Question: Is there such a thing as an 1889/8 overdate Liberty Seated half dollar? I recently saw it in an old issue of the Guide Book, but it was not shown in a later edition.
Answer: On this half dollar, the knob of the 9 closely approaches and may even touch the upper curve of the 9, leading the Numismatic Gallery (an old-time coin firm comprising Abner Kreisberg and Abe Kosoff) to call it 1889/8, and this for a time found its way into the Guide Book. Later, the variety was studied more closely, and the conclusion was that it was not an overdate at all.