There are only two die varieties of 1801 Dimes, JR-1 and JR-2. This is an example of JR-2, and the scarcer of the two varieties at R-5. On this variety star 4 is usually very weak, or non-existent. There are, of course, many other die characteristics. I tend to go by the unusually large 'T's' in 'States'. Looking forward to your comments and opinions on grade. Thanks!
I agree. Your coin is very appealing. I find it interesting that it does not display the denomination. If you hadn't said it was a dime, I wouldn't have known.
Very nice coin, of course! Based on the detail missing from the hair of Miss Liberty on the obverse, I judged it VF right away. But looking more carefully at all of the coin on both sides, and consulting the ANA Grading Guide, it is higher, for sure, but I am having a hard time getting to XF. VF-35. I could go with Extremely Fine if there were some standard for grading the series differently than others. It just seems to me that the height of Miss Liberty protects much of the detail on the other devices and mottoes. What do the certified populations look like in this series?
That touches on the very definition of "coin." In "Numismatic News" for July 5, 1994, Alan Herbert claimed that the US Mint holds legal title to the word "coin." He said: "The term 'coin' has been legally and professionally banned for use in the hobby to prevent applying it to medals, tokens and other similar pieces. A coin is defined as a piece that has been issued and is assigned a specific value by a legal body entitled to issue money." (Originally here http://www.coinbooks.org/esylum_v08n04a24.html Archived also here: https://nnp.wustl.edu/library/periodical/4451 ) But many early US Federal coins did not state a specific value. And, of course, the UK Gold Sovereign still does not. As an aside, word "dime" originally was spelled "disme" was pronounced "deem." It seems unusual to us, but tens arithmetic for money was specifically advocated only about 1600. Even into the mid-1800s, the German thaler was often divided into halves, thirds, and quarters, with the 12th being the common denominator, of course. And we have the US Quarter Dollar, of course, the 20-cent piece being a short-lived experiment. "Although he did not invent decimals (they had been used by the Arabs and the Chinese long before Stevin's time) he [Simon Stevin] did introduce their use in mathematics in Europe. Stevin states that the universal introduction of decimal coinage, measures and weights would only be a matter of time (but he probably would be amazed to know that in the 21st century some countries still resist adopting decimal systems). Robert Norton published an English translation of La Theinde in London in 1608. It was titled Disme, The Arts of Tenths or Decimal Arithmetike and it was this translation which inspired Thomas Jefferson to propose a decimal currency for the United States (note that one tenth of a dollar is still called a dime). Stevin's notation was to be taken up by Clavius and Napier and it developed into that used today." -- http://www-groups.dcs.st-and.ac.uk/history/Biographies/Stevin.html
Very nice coin. I'm at VF30. As with @kaparthy, first impression was VF, and the inner wing detail is really nice. I found this XF in Heritage's archives, and this one noticeably falls short. Less hair detail, less wing detail, clouds worn into wings.
Thank you, all, for your opinions. Much appreciated. My own estimation is VF25. The reverse a little better as some mentioned, but the obverse would carry it I guess. This is one of a few coins I obtained from J. Kern in the 80's/90's. Some of you may know him. I think he carries mostly ancients and world nowadays, but back then he used to always have a very nice selection of early U.S coinage. Fair prices, accurate descriptions and conservative grading.
