The issue began with the editor's comments. This was the final issue of the Journal for volume 12. All of the authors for this volume were thanked for their contributions, and members were asked to vote for up to 3 of their favorite articles for and issues from volume 12. The article garnering the most votes will win the Jules Reiver Literary Award for 1999. A request for new articles was also made. An announcement was made that the annual meeting for JRCS will be in Philadelphia at the ANA Convention on Wednesday, August 9 at 8:30AM in room 202A of the convention center. Lastly, it was noted that a limited number of the new half dime books are still available form the society. They are $75.00 postpaid. Checks should be made payable to JRCS and orders sent to: Russ Logan, P.O. Box 39541, Solon, Ohio 44139. 

"Plaudits, Pans and Perplexing Points," a regular feature of the journal, reported an unlisted late die state of the 1807 Browning-1 quarter dollar. This was submitted by David W. Lange, Research Director of the Numismatic Guaranty Corporation. A sketch accompanied and illustrated the extensive obverse die cracks on this new discovery specimen. 

W. David Perkins submitted the first article about the 1799 "Reverse of 1798" Silver Dollar, calling it an under appreciated rarity in the early dollar series. It is desirable as the only silver dollar die marriage of 1799 mated to the "Line Star Pattern Reverse" die as used in 1798. Photos helped illustrate the three uses of this reverse die. The first use was on the 1798 B-25 die marriage, then the 1798 B-24 and the final use was on the 1799 B-15. Photos of all three reverse dies were included and readers were encouraged to follow the die deterioration progression. The author concluded that perhaps it's time to include the 1799 "Reverse of 1798" in the Redbook and other price listings. 

Robert Stark contributed a new feature which he termed "Dollar Notes." First, Bob contrasted use of the small eagle, "large letters" reverse with the "small letters" reverse used on dollars dated 1795, 1796, 1797 and 1798. It was suggested that possibly a punch intended for a smaller denominations was accidently used to make the "small letters" silver dollar coinage. Photos of the large and small letters reverse accompanied the article. The second subject covered by the author was titled "Daddy Dollars." It has been long reported that "daddy dollars" (or dollars dated 1794-1803) were sometimes used for teething children. Bob lent much credibility to this theory by reporting a 1799 dollar hung by a cotton muslin ribbon (roughly 3/8" by 18") that he viewed in a rural Pennsylvania estate auction some years ago. 

Next, Mark Borckardt of Bowers & Merena announced the discovery of another specimen of the Rarity-8 1795 BB-16, B-20 silver dollar turning up. Prior to this specimen, there were only two reported examples of this die marriage. The discovery specimen of this die marriage was offered in Lester Merkin's February, 1972 sale, lot 299. The second specimen, consigned unattributed, was offered in the May 1998 Bowers & Merena auction, lot 2254. This new specimen was apparently purchased unattributed in July, 1966 and was consigned (also unattributed) by the heirs of this collector. 

Ralph D. Fox continues with an article titled "The 1811 O107 Prime Bust Half." Ralph discusses the previous use of the dies used for 1811 O107 - obverse on 1811 O105 and the reverse on 1811 O106. Ralph provides evidence to show that these two dies were used were used prior to creating the O107 die marriage. 

The next item to appear was the results of the Capped Bust Half Dollar Survey. As stated in the Editor's Comments, "There are many interesting tidbits of information to be gleamed from the JRCS censuses....Our sharing of information is one of the most important ways to advance our collective knowledge of the Bust Series of coins." All R-4+ die marriages were listed by Overton number. For most die marriages the survey results included the top 13 grades reported, the total number of pieces counted and an overall average grade for all the censuses submitted. As an example, for the 1807 O-111 (R-4) 32 specimens were included, the highest grade submitted was EF-45 and the average grade for the 32 pieces was "26" ("VF-26"). 

A call to JRCS Bust Dollar collectors was made to send in their early silver dollar 1794-1803 censuses for publication in the journal. Censuses of the different series are published in every other journal. 

An article by John J. Haugh titled "A "Curious Overstrike" Reappears" followed. John tells the story of a 1796 "uniface flip over double struck" silver dollar, possibly the specimen M. H. Bolender referenced in THE UNITED STATES SILVER DOLLARS FROM 1794 TO 1803 in 1950. The article was accompanied by a number of photographs, including 3 "micro photos" of the doubling. John related his attempt at tracing the provenance of the coin, and ventured that this might be the same coin Bolender saw prior to 1950. 

Is it possible to entomb a coin within a half dollar sized closed knop that is 1/8 inch in wall thickness? "Slabbing Circa 1840" by Russell J. Logan told of this 19th century trade, and sited examples he had seen, including a pitcher containing an 1834 JR-6 Bust dime. Russ remarked on having the chance to study a coin that had not "seen a breath of fresh air in over 150+ years" and that it is as original as is historically possible. 

Charles D. Horning contributes the last article in the journal, a review of the new book Federal Half Dimes 1792-1837 by Russ Logan and John McCloskey. An overview of each section of the book was provided. The author concluded that overall, this "is an extraordinary text."