Vic's Picks
10c SEATED LIBERTY, NO STARS 1837-38


Obverse
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Reverse
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Coin Details

  

Set Details
Origin/Country: United States
Design Description:
Item Description: 10C 1837 F-101c
Grade: PCGS AU 50
Owner: EZ_E
 
Winning Set: Vic's Picks
Date Added: 4/19/2008
Research: Currently not available

Owner's Description

A $630 purchase from Mark Hooten on 4-13-08.<br /><br />*********************<br />1837 DIME -<br />SEATED LIBERTY<br />*********************<br />Mintage:<br />Circulation strikes: 682,500<br />Proofs: estimated 30<br /><br />Designer: Obverse by Thomas Sully, executed by Christian Gobrecht; Reverse by Christian Gobrecht<br /><br />Diameter: ±17.9 millimeters<br /><br />Metal content:<br />Silver - ±90%<br />Copper - ±10%<br /><br />Weight: ±41.3 grains (±27 grams)<br /><br />Edge: Reeded<br /><br />Mintmark: None (for Philadelphia) below DIME on the reverse<br />------------------------------------------------------------------<br />Hoot's original comments:<br /><br />I like to think of the “no stars” variety of the dime and half dime as the obverse of the Gobrecht dollar in miniature! These renditions of Gobrecht’s seated Liberty effigy only show slight modification from the1836 original dollar design, with lower relief and slight modifications for correct sizing to the coin. However, the visage of Liberty in theopen fields of this coin is a powerful and artistically pleasing presentation of the seated design, only to be cluttered up in years to come, and later rendered less lovely by Hughes and even Longacre. The simple wreath of the reverse, surrounding the denominational epithet,is a very pleasing design that lasted until Longacre made a complicated disaster of the wreath in 1860. The “no stars” design was minted only for a short time, in 1837 from Philadelphia and only from New Orleans in 1838. The 1838-O is a significant piece, however, in that it is the first year of mintage of the new Mint of the south. The new Orleans Mint was commissioned for the sole purpose to meet the coinage distributional needs of the growing agricultural and industrial regionof the southern U.S., and was logically located in the largest and mostpopulated industrial port of the south.<br /><br />The originality of this piece simply leaps up and screams at the onlooker.The toning of this piece is “mossy” like that of the grandfather’s bears lichens that hang from trees in the South. The coin appears tohave resided in an album for a very long time, reverse down to thepaper backing. While the obverse gained more eye appeal with therainbow toning, the reverse gained more character with the “growth” of lichen-like toning of its own. A truly spectacular piece. This piece is also from the fractured obverse die, which is in the “top 100varieties” for seated dime collectors. Note the “pie-slice” die crack in the lower obverse. A rare piece for the condition and overall appeal.

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