Early Dime Series Begins With 1796

By Paul M. Green, Numismatic News March 15, 2011

This article was originally printed in Numismatic News.
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It’s seems to be a regular thing to read that another early coin of the United States has sold for in excess of $1 million. Suddenly it seems that the historic first issues of the United States have become one of the hot areas of the market and although it’s nice to see the earliest coins of the United States getting their appropriate recognition it can get discouraging for some collectors who simply want to be able to assemble modest collections of these early issues or acquire nice type examples.

Fortunately there are some early issues of the United States that while certainly not common are at least available for collectors of average financial means. While you may not be able to assemble a set in Mint State, the early dimes are one of the areas where you can find some affordable and excellent coins that are every bit as historic as the ones bringing the top auction prices.

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For those who are looking for an opportunity in early issues of the United States, the early dimes may prove to be the perfect collection combining good values with historical importance.

In approaching a collection of early dimes, it must be remembered that the grades of dimes from the 1790s are not likely to be what you would find with Roosevelt dimes of the 1990s. The early dime like other early denominations was released into circulation where it would receive heavy use. The times were tough and so were the people and dings, scratches and other problems are fairly common on all early issues including dimes.

Moreover, there were relatively few collectors at the time and those there were seemed to be concentrating primarily on cents because a dime collection while seemingly not very expensive today represented a good deal of money to someone getting by living off the land or being paid a small amount for their labor.

The dime strangely was fairly slow to be produced. It was seemingly a cornerstone denomination in the first Mint Act of April 2, 1792, and in his speech to Congress of that year announcing that half dismes had been produced President Washington in explaining the half dime production pointed to a need for small denominations. Interestingly enough that first half dime production had taken place in the establishment of a Philadelphia sawmaker by the name of John Harper as there was no mint at the time and it appears there was also a pattern for a very similar dime.

We cannot be precisely sure why dimes were never made and it could have been because of any number of reasons. The Harper facility was not up to the task of significant coin production, but it was the best of what were very few choices at the time. Thomas Jefferson, who as Secretary of State was responsible for a Mint actually called the Harper activity the “mint” at one time and if there was a pattern dime it can safely be assumed that it received some official consideration.

The fact is it is very possible that there was simply not enough silver to justify an attempt at production as it appears that the 1,500 half dismes which were thought to have been produced came from silver supplied by someone with there being some suggestion that it was Washington. That cannot be proven but the fact remains that the operation was not an official mint and consequently had its limitations which might have been what stood between the United States and a 1792 dime or disme.

The official United States Mint would open for business in early 1793 but it too had problems. The major one in 1793 was that officials were balking at the idea of posting a required $10,000 bond. Until that dispute was settled there could be no production of gold or silver, so in 1793 all the new U.S. Mint did was to produce copper half cents and large cents.

The matter of the bond was settled in 1794 and at that point the Mint turned its attention to silver issues but not the dime. On paper it makes sense that they would start by producing dollars, but the fact is that their equipment was designed to produced nothing larger than a half dollar. They knew that as well as that the right equipment would be installed the following year, but they went ahead with the dollar effort anyway.

That decision was probably a mistake at least based on the fact that the only thing to come of the effort to produce dollars were 1,758 weakly struck coins. No one thinks that they intended to make just 1,758 dollars, leading us to believe that the 1,758 coins delivered were the only ones to meet rather minimal quality standards. Of the 135 or so known today it is easy to see that strikes were not good and that there were other problems.

Following the dollar adventure, they turned to half dollar and then to half dimes. It is possible that all of the 1794 half dimes were actually struck in 1795 as that is when the first half dime deliveries took place, but we cannot be sure. Whatever the actual striking date there are 1794 and 1795 half dimes, but in 1795 there would be no new silver denominations attempted as it appears the decision was made to try a couple of gold denominations as well as to continue with mintages of denominations already produced, including the first significant numbers of dollars.

By the time the first dime was ready for production in 1796 the initial design of silver coins had been changed to the Robert Scot Draped Bust obverse and small eagle reverse. That would be the design used in 1796 and 1797. Both are tough, with the 1796 having a mintage of 22,135 while the 1797 which was divided between 13- and 16-star varieties had a mintage of 25,261. When you combine the low mintages with the historic importance of the 1796 as the first dime and remember there were just two years of the type today’s prices of $1,650 for the 1796 in AG-3 and similar prices for either variety of the 1797 seem extremely reasonable.

An AG-3 coin is not a particularly nice one. The G-4 prices are nearly double and the F-12 prices are more than triple the AG-3 prices.

Finding an example of either date in Mint State is a much more difficult challenge with all three being priced at right around $25,000. Realistically, that price reflects type demand as the three are not equally available but few collect all three especially in Mint State.

The 13-star variety of the 1797 appears to be the real sleeper of the group in Mint State as the Numismatic Guaranty Corporation has yet to see an example better than AU-58 while the Professional Coin Grading Service reports a single example in Mint State while the 16-star variety has been seen eight times at PCGS and 4 times at NGC. By comparison the 1796, which might have had some small amount of saving at the time as the first dime has been seen 49 times in Mint State at PCGS and 61 times in Mint State at NGC.

The Mint State coins of the type are an interesting group as there are some very nice examples including some that appear to have come from prooflike dies possibly meaning they were intended to be presentation pieces. While there are a few coins at the upper end of the grading scale, the majority of Mint State pieces still shows signs of the minting process at the time in the United States with weak strikes being evident in Liberty’s hair or the center of the stars. In addition there are sometimes small adjustment marks.

In the case of the 1797 where there are so few available, you are likely to have to accept some of these small problems simply because the supply is so limited.

In 1798 the design was changed with the reverse now featuring a large eagle that would remain the basic design until 1807. The most available dates of the period start at $575 in G-4 and $6,850 in MS-60. As they have mintages of at least 100,000, the 1805 and 1807 are the most available of the dates for type collectors in Mint State with the grading service totals for the two being very close.

There are a number of interesting dates from the period, such as the 1798/97 which is found with either 13 or 16 stars. The 16-star variety can be found for roughly $775 in G-4 but the 13-star is $2,150 in the same grade. In XF-40 the 13-star is $14,750 as opposed to $4,350 for the 16-star and the grading services seem to support the price differences. At NGC they report 41 examples of the 16-star variety but a mere six of the 13-star while PCGS has seen the 16-star variety 57 times but the 13-star variety just a dozen times.

It is no accident that the 1805 and 1807 have higher mintages. They reflect the fact that the production of gold eagles and silver dollars had been suspended back in 1804 as the Mint attempted to produce greater numbers of lower denominations. The problem had been the Mint policy of allowing those supplying the silver and gold to select the denominations to be made from their metal. As the bulk of the gold and silver came from institutions such as banks they would tend to order upper denominations with the silver dollar and gold eagle being the highest. Just to make matters worse those coins were frequently exported in the case of the silver dollars or used as reserves meaning they did not circulate so very little progress was being made on solving the national coin shortage. The Mint tried to convince people to take other denominations but when that did not work the next option was to simply stop making silver dollars and gold eagles, which is what happened in 1804. The evidence is not conclusive in all denominations, but at least in the case of the dime the suspension of silver dollar and gold eagle mintages does appear to have made a difference at least in some of the later mintages such as 1805 and 1807 as they were over 100,000 while the previous high dime mintage was 34,640 in 1801.

There is no doubt that the later dates are available in greater numbers in Mint State but the quality of those pieces is sometimes suspect. Q. David Bowers observes in his book, A Guide Book of United States Type Coins that most dimes of the type have problems noting, “Nearly all dimes of this type were struck casually, with the result being some area of lightness.”

That said, there have been a couple truly extraordinary coins that have appeared with the 1805 being reported a couple times in MS-65 while the John Pittman 1807 received an MS-67 from one grading service, but such ultra-grade coins are definitely the exception to the rule.

There are also less available dates that can be very challenging. The 1802 is listed at $1,750 in G-4 but it is a date that could potentially be much more costly if there was greater demand as is seen by the fact that in any grade it has been seen just 23 times by NGC and 25 times by PCGS. Clearly with any significant increase in demand those totals even if there were a few that have not been seen by grading services would not be enough to meet any new demand at today’s prices.

In 1809 the design was changed to a John Reich Liberty Cap. Basically the design would be similar until the introduction of the Seated Liberty design in 1837, but there would be small modifications in 1828 when the diameter was reduced slightly making another type.

In the case of the earlier type finding a nice example is much easier than for the prior issues. A couple dates had mintages in excess of 1 million pieces and that results in an available date being just $39 in G-4 while an MS-60 is currently at roughly $1,100. In the case of the more available dates there are some examples in higher Mint State grades with an MS-63 starting around $2,250 while an MS-65 would begin at around $12,500. There will still be small problems such as weak strikes, but with the better supply you can shop around until you find a nicer example.

There are still some better dates of the type, such as the 1809, which had a mintage of 51,065. This puts it at $140 in G-4 while an MS-60 is $4,500. The 1811/9 is similar with a 65,000 mintage and a $110 G-4 price with an MS-60 at $4,000.

Perhaps the most interesting date of the period is the 1822, which had a listed mintage of 100,000, but that total does not seem right. The 1822 simply does not appear in the numbers that would be expected of a date from the period with a mintage of 100,000. That can be seen with its $1,000 G-4 price, which is well above the lower mintage 1809 or 1811/9.

The grading services also point to problems with the 100,000 mintage as PCGS reports 40 examples of the 1809, 35 of the 1811/9 and just 28 of the 1822. At NGC they report 31 examples of the 1809 and 47 of the 1811/9 but only 30 of the 1822. While the totals are not decisive in every case the fact remains that the 1822 is seen less often than the other dates, which both had mintages well below 100,000 pieces.

The final Liberty Cap dime of the smaller diameter started with the 1828 mintage and continued through 1837. The type is available for $36 and up in G-4 while an MS-60 might be found for as little as $775 with an MS-65 at $6,850.

There is one very special coin of the type in the form of the 1829 with a curl-base “2,” which ranks as one of the toughest coins of a very tough period. The 1829 curl-base “2” currently lists at $7,750 in G-4 and is not even priced in Mint State as there are virtually no numbers in any grade. In fact, the coin would be a great rarity if it was a regular date and there was greater demand as the grading services show PCGS reporting 12 examples with the best being an AU-53 while NGC can account for eight but the best of that group was an F-12. Clearly with a combined total of just 20 examples the 1829 curl-base “2” is a significant but lesser-known rarity and an excellent value at today’s price levels.

The relatively small number of collectors of early dimes has an impact not only on the rarities such as the 1829 curl-base “2,” but also on the more available dates. These were coins that generally had very low mintages and relatively slim prospects for survival to the present day. Compare them with just about any other issue of the United States and you can readily see the value you are getting for your money. In addition you are getting coins from a very historic period as the nation started out and began to grow into the great country it has become. In fact, the dimes reflected that growth with higher mintages and better quality and that makes a collection of early dimes even more interesting.