Walter Breen
Letters
1. Wrong font: 1793 variety 4, obverse R too large and 1794 variety 52, narrow AS.
2. Misplaced letters: 1794 variety 47 (A in STATES), 1798 variety 4 (E in STATES), and 1802 variety 1 (final s).
3. Misplaced words (layout problems): 1801 varieties 7-8, LIBERTY too far right (variety 8 has the reverse of the famous Three Errors). (C. J. Dochkus called variety 8 "The Infamous Four Errors." See story in Superior, Dr. Charles L. Ruby, February 1974, lot 565.)
ONE skewed left: 1796 varieties 2, 29, 44-45, 1797 varieties 30, 32, and 1798 variety 42. ONE skewed right: 1797 varieties 8, 10, 15-17, 1798 varieties 18-19, and 1802 vari-eties 7-9, 13.
4. Corrected rotational blunders: 1794 varieties 1-2, 48, 1796 variety 33 (in each, one of the central NS), 1796 varieties 27, 45 (the famed "LIHERTY"), 1798 varieties 13-14, 21, 23-24, 37 (in all three reverses, (M)E), 1798 variety 31 (look at (A)T), and 1801 varieties 8, 11 (u; a century ago called HNITED or IINITED).
5. Corrected misplaced letters: 1794 variety 21 obverse, LI ERT first too high, 1797 variety 8, S(T) first too low, 1798 variety 34, 1803 variety 21, M first too low, 1800 varieties 11-12, 1802 variety 20, 1803 variety I, (E)S first too low, 1811/0 variety 2, E(D) first too high, and 1812 variety 3, BER first too low.
Some would include all repunched letters here, e.g.., P A on 1794 varieties 58-61, U on 1796 varieties 16, 19, P on 1797 variety 18, I on 1814 variety 1 obverse, or those on nearly every reverse from the hub of 1799, though those were manifestly an attempt to strengthen elements correctly placed but weakly imparted by the hub.
6. Corrected erroneous letters: Six dies used in eight varieties, the first two only recently identified as blundered. Sometimes the wrong letter would have correctly gone next; sometimes it represented part of a different word. (Compare 1787 Connecticut IN/FU, alias "FNDE", Complete Encyclopedia, p. 853-4.) 1793 variety 5, obverse R corrected from E, 1794 variety 26, reverse R corrected from H, 1797 variety 14, reverse (M)E corrected from extra M, 1797 varieties 23-24, reverse M corrected from E, 1798 variety 15, reverse C(A) corrected from I or T, and 1802 varieties 12-13, obverse T corrected from Y.
7. Other letter problems: On 1794 varieties 14-17, LI are punched over heavy dots.
Design Elements
In some instances the deviations are clearly blunders, in others they are apparently intentional, and in still others it is uncertain which applies, especially before the Wright wreath design was standardized in 1794 (leaves 14-18), or Scot's in late 1796 (leaves 16-19). Berries were standardized at 5-5 when the hub of 1799 went into use. The incomplete ribbon loops found on various reverses of 1798 and 1802 are more likely a result of overpolished dies than of broken punches (as in 1794) or engraver error.
1. Stemless wreath: 1796 variety 46, 1797 varieties 26-29, 31, 1802 varieties 9, 20, and 1803 variety 1.
2. One stem: 1801 varieties 8, 11. One of this reverse's Famous Three Errors.
3. Extra fraction bar: 1802 variety 20 and 1803 varieties 1, 6. The converse error, omitted fraction bar, occurs on the 1792 small pattern cent; but on 1794 variety 50 it was apparently effaced during drastic regrinding and polishing of the die: see below.
4. Extra leaves (after the 1794 design was standardized): Double outer leaf at IT, 1794 varieties 40-47, the "Office Boy" reverses attributed to Frederick Riche. (See Remarks at 1794 number 37 for more information regarding Riche.) Triple leaf at D, 1794 varieties 62-63.
5. Omitted leaves (after the 1794 design was standardized): Single leaf at (R)I, 1794 varieties 9-10 and double leaf at OP, 1794 varieties 48, 58-63, 1796 varieties 25-27. All these count as incomplete dies: the elements were never entered, rather than polished off the die. Note that the "Type of 1795" reverse design was never standardized, unlike the 1794 or 1797.
6. Extra berries (after 5-5 standardized, late 1798): 1798 variety 42 and 1803 varieties 16, 22. On all three reverses, the extra berry is the top outer one on left branch.
7. Omitted berries (after 5-5 standardized): 1802 varieties 11, 14-18. On all three reverses, the missing berry is within the right branch.
8. Two knots: 1794 varieties 41-48, the "Office Boy" reverses.
9. Omitted knot: 1796 variety 37.
10. Misplaced design elements: Only three unequivocal instances-one of them unique and famous because of its publicity in the Ruby sale (2/1974), another not earlier recognized as such, and the third a recently discovered die. Arguably all four Frederick Riche reverses (1794 varieties 40-48) qualify here: see detailed descriptions in main text.
1793 variety 8 state L Obverse extra border bead. See Remarks and Condition Census in the main text. Unique in this state.
1794 variety 31. This variety, discovered in 1994, has the leaf pair at ME arising from a berry although without a stem connecting it to this berry.
1796 variety 11. Upper part of right wreath stem arises from leaf tip, not connected with lower part (illustration in main text).
11. Misplaced device punch: To date, no clear-cut instance on cents. (Occurs on the 1797 Low Head half cent obverse, the 1800 half cent reverse (wreath too far left), and one obverse of the 1795 Draped. Bust dollar, BB-51 left). Possible candidates include several 1794 obverses in which the date is crowded between bust and border, but this effect could also have come from elongated dentils.