Acknowledgements
This work would have never been as complete without the generous help and support of so many people. From friends who kept a vigilant eye for new discoveries to family members whose patience
was relentless, the authors would not have been able to indulge in their passion for this ephemeral series. We owe a debt we can never repay.
While most of the coins and other numismatic items depicted in this book belong to the authors, there are some notable exceptions. Laura Sperber at Legend Numismatics offered her rare 1874
patterns for examination and photography. Bill Bugert provided his 1875-CC BF-4 coin for photography to capture the late state die cracks. It was this coin that demonstrated the reverse die
was reused the next year to produce the 1876-CC rarity. Ernie Botte provided his love token with the piano engraving, and John Kraljevich provided the assayer’s chart. The Nevada State Museum,
which was the original Carson City Mint, provided the Norman Biltz specimen of the 1876-CC for photography, the 1875 photo of the Carson City Mint, and photos of the excavation of the discarded
dies. Gene Gardner and Heritage Auctions provided Gene’s 1876-CC for in-depth examination, study, and photography. Heritage Auctions also furnished the photos of the 1875 patterns and 1875
Eagle photo used for the misplaced date comparison.
Over the years, many people gave us access to new coins and exonumia for examination and set aside special pieces for us to add to our collections. We are indebted to Rich Uhrich, Brian Cushing,
Dick Osburn, Brian Greer, John Kraljevich, Bob Moffatt, Lano Balulescu, Jim Carr, Vincent Blume, Merritt Reynolds, and Chick McCormick. Mark Obstalecki brought us the first known example of the
1875-CC BF-1 and then followed up with numerous subsequent observations.
Fred Weinberg was invaluable for his expertise on errors and was the source of some of the more spectacular examples acquired by the authors and illustrated in this book. Roger Burdette provided
thoughtful insight into the U.S. minting procedures of the 19th Century.
A special thanks to Bob Nylen, Gene Hattori, and Ken Hopple from the Nevada State Museum who gave of their time and showed great enthusiasm in sharing their knowledge and making available so many
artifacts for inspection, especially the recovered coinage dies. The graciousness and generosity of the Nevada State Museum staff cannot be overstated. If you collect Liberty Seated coins and
haven’t visited there, you should plan a pilgrimage to the fabled Carson City Mint sometime.
Gerry Fortin set the original standard in numismatic web-based books with his Liberty Seated Dimes Varieties website. He showed that creating an online book on die varieties is not only possible,
but also extremely useful for collectors. His work served as an inspiration for us to advance our web-based version of this book.
Members of the Liberty Seated Collectors Club (LSCC) supported the initial motivation for the project and offered their encouragement and enthusiasm along the way. Brian Greer facilitated bringing
the two authors together, combining two individual projects into one. Thanks also to Jason Feldman, who in addition to hosting the LSCC website, is hosting the online version of this book.
Thanks also to Bill Bugert, Jim Carr, Dennis Fortier, and Malin Goodwin, who reviewed the final draft of this book, providing us with valuable comments that greatly enhanced the final work.
And finally, valuable advice was enthusiastically offered by Bill Bugert, author, collector, friend, and a true asset to the hobby. In addition to reviewing the final draft of this book, the
examples he set forth in his Register of Liberty Seated Half Varieties series, publishing advice, and ideas for producing this type of book, were all invaluable. The simple and easy-to-follow
format for the die marriage descriptions we owe all to him.
