Obverse: 8
Reverse: J
O-113 R? Top and O-113a R? bottom.
This die marriage has all the makings of an R5!!!! There is a decent population in collections, but market appearances are so rare, especially in high grade, that this die marriage is in dire need of re-evaluation in terms of rarity.
This one appears to be much tougher than other marriages, especially in the prime state. It ranks as my #1 toughest R2 Marriage, with a grand total of 4 problem free O-113a's in AU (none in mint state) as the only examples the last ten years to appear for this die marrriage. The prime die state I believe is more like R7. Research suggests that there may be 2-3 MS coins out there at most, with an MS65 being the finest, but these have been out of circulation for years now. AU examples without issues are very rare, and it seems like most examples in any grade have ended up in collections. UPDATE: 7/10/2017: An MS 62 has appeared as part of a major collection, providing the first MS example in a long time....And Heritage placed 2 AU's into their May 2018 internet auctions...
