1814 O-105a "single leaf" capped bust half dollar and the Second Treaty of Greenville

The photos below are of an 1814 capped bust half dollar, which is an O-105a variety, an R4 in rarity, and quite scarce... an elusive coin.  It also happens to be a variety that is listed in what is referred to as the "Red Book", but what is actually titled "A Guide Book of United States Coins", by R.S. Yeoman and Kenneth Bressett.  There's an Amazon.com link to this book on the right-hand side of this page if you're interested - it's been published annually for about the last 64 years, and is an incredibly informative and well-illustrated (photos) reference for a very economical price.  

The reason that this half dollar is a Red Book variety is because on the reverse, directly under the eagle's left wing (from the observer's perspective, not the eagle's), there is what appears to be a single leaf at the topmost part of the olive branch, where normally there are two leaves paired together.  This is because at the Philadelphia Mint in 1814, over time the reverse die probably became clashed and someone at the mint aggressively "lapped" or polished the die in this position to remove the surface defect, and in the process the upper pair of leaves were reduced to a thin remnant resembling a single leaf.  This particular variety, among other early capped bust halves, is known to have a bit of a "raccoon eye" effect on Miss Liberty, which is fairly notable on this half.   

My wife, who did not know this capped bust half dollar was an R4 variety, chose this for me at a flea market in Tampa, and picked it up for only I think about $63 or $70.  It has been cleaned in the past but only just mildly. I think that for $70 for a nice, early date, historic, R4 rarity bust half that is also a Redbook variety, she (accompanied by my daughter) did really well, and I was very pleasantly surprised/thrilled, and also very proud of her "cherrypicking" a great bust half at a cheap price without having knowledge of the variety.   

1814 O-105a capped bust half dollar obverse

1814 O-105a capped bust half dollar reverse

In contemporaneous U.S. history, the year 1814 was extremely important in the ongoing but waning War of 1812.  Military actions included but were not limited to the battle of Fort McHenry in Baltimore, at which Francis Scott Key composed the United States' national anthem, the Star Spangled Banner.  In the vicinity just a short distance southwest of the Great Black Swamp, in Greenville, Ohio, on July 22, 1814, General William Henry Harrison and Governor Lewis Cass (of Michigan territory) negotiated on behalf of the United States government a second treaty with the Wyandot, Delaware, Shawnee, Seneca, Miami and Potawatomi at the same place where the original treaty had been negotiated in 1795.  This Second Treaty of Greenville was referred to as "A TREATY OF PEACE AND FRIENDSHIP Between the United States of America and the tribes of Indians called the Wyandots, Delawares, Shawanoese, Senacas and Miamies."  It provided peace among the tribes, and alliance of these Tribes with the U.S. against Great Britain during the War of 1812.   Shown below is a photo of a "peace pipe" given to the tribes by the U.S. government.

Peace pipe from Second Treaty of Greenville, 1814

This agreement illustrated the continued struggle between the British and the white Americans to establish allies with Ohio's Native American people, and the struggle of the Native Americans to maintain their land and preserve their way of life. This struggle had existed since the American Revolution, but with the United States' victory in the War of 1812, Ohio natives no longer had the British as an ally to assist them in inhibiting the westward migration of white Americans.

An 1813 O-102 Capped Bust half dollar... maybe Oliver Hazard Perry held this!

These photos are of an 1813 Capped Bust half dollar in my collection, an example of the O-102 variety, which is an R4 in rarity.  Note the subtle raised bars through and below Liberty's ear.  These are clash marks, which were caused when the obverse and reverse dies banged together harshly (clashed) at one  point or more in time, probably repetitively, because someone forgot to put a silver planchet (the "blank" that becomes the coin) in between the two dies in the hand-operated screw-down coin minting press.  The bars are from where the vertical bars on the shield (in front of the eagle on the reverse) of the reverse die clashed into the obverse die. Similarly to the 1794 large cent I posted earlier, the Capped Bust half dollars from 1807 through 1836 have a "third side", which is the edge, with its incuse lettering stating the value "FIFTY CENTS OR HALF A DOLLAR".  It is not unusual for this edge lettering on capped bust half dollars to be blundered, and some of these edge lettering errors can be highly collectible in their own right. 

1813 O-102 Capped Bust half dollar obverse

1813 O-102 Capped Bust half dollar reverse

The year 1813 was of great importance in U.S. history and particularly in Northwest Ohio, due to a pivotal naval battle during the War of 1812 which occurred in western Lake Erie about 5 miles northwest of Put-in-Bay, Ohio (on South Bass Island) on September 10, 1813.   

U.S. Secretary of the Navy Paul Hamilton had charged Daniel Dobbins with building the American fleet on Presque Isle Bay at Erie, Pennsylvania, and 28 year-old Commodore Oliver Hazard Perry was named chief naval officer.   Timber from near present-day Erie was used to build the ships, and the ships were outfitted and armed via an overland route from the federal arsenal in Pittsburgh.  From the start of the war to the end of July 1813,  British Royal Navy ships, which since May 5, 1813 were led by Commander Robert Heriot Barclay (operating out of Amherstburg near Detroit), had maintained control of Lake Erie, and kept the American squadron under Perry confined by blockade to Presque Isle harbor.  

Barclay had then been forced by shortage of supplies to lift the blockade for two days, allowing Perry to get his ships across the sandbar at the entrance to the harbor.  Once it was fully armed and manned, Perry's superior squadron instituted a counter-blockade of Amherstburg, and supplies of food there rapidly ran short. Finally, with supplies almost exhausted, Barclay put out to seek battle with Perry.

On September 10, 1813, Perry's command met and successfully fought against a  Barclay's task force  in the Battle of Lake Erie.  At the outset of this battle Perry declared, “If a victory is to be gained, I will gain it.”  The initial  exchange of cannon volleys were quite disastrous for the Americans and the British took an early advantage. Perry's flagship, the USS Lawrence, was so severely raked with cannon fire in the encounter that the British commander, Robert Heriot Barclay, assumed that Perry would surrender it, and sent a small boat to request that the  crippled American vessel lower its flag.  Faithful to the words of his battle flag, "DON'T GIVE UP THE SHIP" (a paraphrase of the dying words of Captain James Lawrence, Perry's friend and the ship's namesake), Perry ordered the splintered Lawrence to fire a final salvo, then ordered his men to row him about a half-mile through heavy grape- and canister- shot cannon fire and rifle fire from British marine snipers to transfer his command to the brig USS Niagara. 

Oliver Hazard Perry with Don't Give Up The Ship battle flag

Battle of Lake Erie, by William Henry Powell

Once aboard, Perry ordered the Niagara's commander, Captain Jesse Elliot, to bring the other schooners into close action while he steered the Niagara toward the damaged British ships.  Breaking through the British line, the American force pounded Barclay's ships at close range with carronades (cannons optimized for short range and more massive cannonball weight) until they could offer no effective resistance and surrendered. Although he had won the battle aboard the Niagara, he received the British surrender on the deck of the devastated Lawrence to allow the British to see the terrible price his men had paid. Perry's battle report to General William Henry Harrison was famously brief: "We have met the enemy and they are ours; two ships, two brigs, one schooner and one sloop."

Perry's victory was the first time in history that an entire British naval squadron had surrendered, and every captured ship was successfully returned to Presque Isle. Although the engagement was small compared to Napoleonic naval battles such as the Battle of Trafalgar, the victory had disproportionate strategic importance, opening Canada up to possible invasion, while simultaneously protecting the entire Ohio Valley. The loss of the British squadron directly led to the critical Battle of the Thames, the rout of British forces in Detroit by Harrison's army, the death of Tecumseh at the Battle of the Thames, and the breakup of his Indian alliance. Along with the Battle of Plattsburgh, it was one of only two significant U.S. naval victories of the war.

The Perry's Victory and International Peace Memorial, a 352-foot doric column rising over Lake Erie located at Put-in-Bay on South Bass Island, was built in 1913 and is about 5 miles southeast of the battle site.  

Perry's Victory and International Peace Memorial