Guest Writer Mark Archambault talks about his collecting passion and meeting David Sundman
Mark Archambault has been a coin collector for over 40 years. He is a long-standing member of the Coin Collectors of America (C4OA), and a numismatic writer. Recently, he and his brother came to Littleton Coin to visit company president and fellow C4OA member, David Sundman. While there, he had an opportunity to see David’s 1870-CC half dollar coin and the die that struck it. Below is Mark’s article which first appeared in the spring 2015 issue of Curry’s Chronicle, the award-winning journal of the Carson City Coin Collectors of America.
How One C4OA Life Member Brightened another Lifer’s Day
By Mark W. Archambault #LM-28-0335
The 1870-CC canceled die
My journey began with an article I read in the fall-winter 2014 edition of Curry’s Chronicle about the 1870-CC half dollar canceled reverse die owned by life member David Sundman, president and owner of Littleton Coin Company in Littleton, New Hampshire. Everyone who has read my articles in Curry’s Chronicle over the past few years, knows what affection I have for the half dollar denomination from the Carson City Mint. Wendy Beattie’s article (on behalf of her boss, David Sundman) in the fall-winter 2014 issue really struck a passionate chord with me. After reading her fascinating article about the descendants of an assayer, who did work for the Carson Mint, and the unique canceled die used as a doorstop and passed down through the generations, eventually auctioned off and ultimately ending up in David Sundman’s collection, I just knew I had to see if I could view this piece of Carson Mint history up close and personal.
My initial contact with Littleton Coin via e-mail in November 2014 got the ball rolling. I received a reply back from David’s assistant Lisa McCullough. She informed me that David would be available for most of December, and that I could schedule a visit to meet David and her to view that piece of steel, which was used to strike the rarest variety of the 1870-CC half dollar. Luckily for me, my work schedule gives me Fridays off, which helped out because David was available to meet on Friday, December 12.
I asked my brother Todd, who is also a coin collector, if he would like to join me on this adventure up the highway approximately 110 miles north of my home in Manchester, NH. I was glad to hear him say “of course I’ll go with you.” After a two-hour drive and some incredible winter scenery through Franconia Notch, or “The Notch” as New Englanders call it, we arrived in Littleton. After a brief lunch, we proceeded down the road a couple of miles to the Littleton Coin Company.
An 1870-CC half dollar graded PCGS XF-45 with the same die marriage as seen on David Sundman’s canceled die.
Upon arrival at the front desk, I let the friendly staff know that we were there to meet with Lisa and David and to view the 1870-CC half dollar canceled die. Within a few minutes, Lisa came downstairs and ushered Todd and I upstairs to meet David. Meeting David Sundman for me was a great moment, because of his contributions to numismatics and his continuing the legacy started by his parents. I immediately observed that there was a copy of Curry’s Chronicle on the counter as we went into his office.
After our formal greetings, David led us into a conference room and said, “I will go and retrieve the die and the coin that was struck on it.” The moment David walked back into the room with the two historic items was pure excitement for me. Like a kid in a candy store I gawked and ogled at the cylindrical piece of steel that struck the half dollars in the Carson City Mint’s first year of operations. When I caught my breath, I asked if it was okay to pick it up and examine it closer, and David said, “Sure, you’re here to see it.”
For me, the only canceled dies I had ever seen before were in Carson City at the old mint building, which is now the Nevada State Museum. They are on display under glass, and they are pretty rusty from being in the ground for so many years, before being dug up on the museum’s grounds in the 1990s.
What a work of art David Sundman’s canceled die is. It is only 1.200 to 1.205 inches in diameter, and when I looked at it through my 10 power magnifying glass, I saw the diagnostics that make it a WB-1 variety. I saw the heavy clash marks inside the lower right shield and below the eagle’s right wing. According to Bill Bugert in the second edition of his A Register of Liberty Seated Half Dollar Varieties Volume II, Carson City Branch Mint (July 2013), this reverse die was used at the Carson Mint only in 1870. David’s die is lightly canceled and not heavily defaced. This is unusual, because the common practice back in the Carson Mint’s heyday was to deface the dies thoroughly to render them useless.
Prior to my visit, I asked if pictures would be allowed and Lisa said, “If David says yes, then of course I could take pictures.” I asked David, and when he said yes, the cellphone cameras and the digital cameras came out quickly. Lisa took pictures of David, Todd and me viewing the canceled Carson Mint die, and Todd got up to snap pictures of David and me viewing the die and the 1870-CC half dollar he purchased from Rusty Goe at Southgate Coins. I was so awestruck while viewing these pieces of history and being caught up in the moment that I forgot to take my camera out of my pocket. “Duh,” I thought as I slapped my forehead after the event. I guess I just lose myself in my thirst for all things “CC.”
Right to left: David Sundman, Mark Archambault and his brother Todd viewing the 1870-CC canceled half dollar die and a half dollar struck on it.
After the viewing, David took Todd and me on a special tour of the Littleton Coin Company’s facility. What a state-of-the-art building it is! We walked about in the upper level looking at the various displays of coins, paper money, colonial artifacts and pictures of the history of the company itself. We checked out the catalog and advertising department, and also stopped in to the computer operations department, where we saw their state-of-the-art system, which is the heartbeat of the operation. Well, just when I thought we were finished, we were treated to a special up-close tour of the ground floor, where employees were busy sorting, scanning, cataloging and filling customer orders. We also saw the grading department and the customer service staff taking care of customers’ orders during the busy holiday season.
This completed our visit, and as Todd and I said our goodbyes and expressed our sincere thanks, we stopped into the Littleton Coin Company store and picked up a couple of mementos from our day in the beautiful North Country of New Hampshire. The drive home was filled with coin talk and “could-you-believe-its?”
I would like to thank Lisa McCullough at Littleton Coin Company for coordinating our visit to meet with David and check out his amazing piece of Carson Mint history. And I want to offer a very sincere Thank You to David Sundman for taking time out of his busy schedule to show a Carson City coin fanatic the amazing canceled die and the 1870-CC half dollar struck on it. Not to mention my gratitude for him giving us a tour of his facility and sharing his numismatic knowledge with us.
David, you certainly made this C4OA life member’s day!!!
References:
A Register of Liberty Seated Half Dollar Varieties Volume II, Carson City Branch Mint, second edition, 2013, by Bill Bugert
(Images courtesy of David Sundman, Littleton Coin Company, and Todd J. Archambault)
Rusty Goe, numismatic writer and researcher, author of The Mint on Carson Street and James Crawford – Master of the Mint at Carson City, and owner of Southgate Coins in Reno, NV, founded the Carson City Coin Collectors of America (C4OA) in 2005. The club, which has attracted members from across the United States and even foreign countries, is celebrating its 10th anniversary in 2015. The C4OA’s mission statement is: To increase knowledge on the subject of the Carson City Mint and the many fascinating coins produced there, and to promote camaraderie among fellow “CC” enthusiasts. The club’s journal, Curry’s Chronicle, has won numerous awards from the Numismatic Literary Guild and the American Numismatic Association. A one-year subscription to the journal, which includes annual membership dues, costs $30. For more information about the C4OA or Curry’s Chronicle, please visit the club’s website at www.carsoncitycoinclub.com.
