Dumb luck: 1839-O Seated Liberty Dime

During my trip to the 2019 ANA, I was going back and forth on shopping 1 more morning, rather than just hitting the road for home. I didn't have a lot of money left, but I decided to go that last morning just in case I happened upon a great deal.

The first table I walk to had some nice slabbed type coins available. I asked about a seated dime in PCGS VF20 which had a sticker on it that said, "Large O." I asked for a price and bought it because I liked it. I didn't know if it was a Large O or not or what that meant, but I bought anyway. A quick search on my phone didn't show much info on Large O varieties. After awhile I showed it to another dealer who specializes in seated material and he told me it was actually the Huge O variety, which is the best one. They have a typical weak date. He told me he figured it was worth $350 or so, and I was shocked and pleased.

HOWEVER, after I got home and sent it to PCGS for variety attribution, I discovered that this exact coin had sold for $646 about 6 or 7 years ago thru Heritage. Additionally, there are only a handful of slabbed Huge O varieties and they have a history of going for big premiums. So somewhere along the line, the variety and the price/auction history got lost in translation. I'm happy to have "rediscovered" it, and consider myself very lucky. Here's the coin. Be on the look out for the weak date and giant mintmark. They're pretty scarce. @ToughCOINS , @Paddy54

 

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VERY NICE FIND! Congrats!

 

There was another thread here about 18 /24 months ago about a member having found one ...yes quite rare I'll give you $5 for it

And one other request if There's a doctor in the house please report to this thread ,and preferred a proctologlist as someone needs to remove the horse shoe from Johns butt •••••omg ! Again pulling R -8 & 9's out of thin air.

 

Very nice find.

 

congrats, on the cherrypick that wasn't a cherrypick

 

Gerry Fortin calls it an R.6. He says the obverse die was heavily polished and the reverse die was leftover from the 1838-O! Wasn't that one you're referring to in another thread a 39-O half dime?

 

What a great story and a terrific find! Good for you. That coin should be a forever in your collection not only because of what it is but because of how you found it.

 

Very cool cherrypick

 

A nice score no doubt CBD. Early in my collecting i was into the Barber series, mostly quarters, nothing too fancy. I had on several occasions considered the seated liberty series but something about the look of obverse always fail short of wowing the money from my wallet.

Couldnt put my finger on it until i stumbled upon an old article id come across somewhere in years gone by, that put words to the way i felt about the series.

Not knocking your coin by any means Sir CBD
Please dont take it as such. Hoping maybe someone who hasn't read it may get a chuckle from it like myself.

So

"A Movement towards redesign...

For much of the second half of the 19th century, most U.S. silver coins bore a design of a seated Liberty. This design had been created by Christian Gobrecht, an engraver at the United States Mint in Philadelphia, after a sketch by artist Thomas Sully, and introduced to U.S. coins in the late 1830s. The design reflected an English influence, and as artistic tastes changed over time, was increasingly disliked in the United States. In 1876, The Galaxy magazine said of the then current silver coins:




"Why is it we have the ugliest money of all civilized nations? The design is poor, commonplace, tasteless, characterless, and the execution is like thereunto. They have rather the appearance of tokens or mean medals. One reason for this is that the design is so inartistic, and so insignificant. That young woman sitting on nothing in particular, wearing nothing to speak of, looking over her shoulder at nothing imaginable, and bearing in her left hand something that looks like a broomstick with a woolen nightcap on it—what is she doing there?"

 

I'm in the same boat, I think -- but, oh, boy, is the Liberty Seated Collectors Club gonna be after you!

All the same, if I came across a cherry-pick at this scale (and somehow recognized it), you'd better believe I'd gain some enthusiasm, right quick.

 

noted: will be on the lookout for any card carrying SLCC goon squad members.

Seriously though i mean no harm. Beauty being in the eye of the beholder and all that jazz.

I actually enjoy the look of the reverse on the quarters and halves.

 

No amount of planning ever replaces 'dumb luck'. Congrats dear fellow.

 

Luck is being prepared to make the correct choice when the opportunity arises; it is not dumb as you took a calculated risk based on your experience and capitalized on the opportunity. It just worked our far better than you first realized. Technically not a cherry pick but definately not "dumb" luck either.

 

Do you have a link to the Heritage sale?

 

https://coins.ha.com/itm/seated-dim...tin-108a/a/1184-1724.s?hdnJumpToLot=1&x=0&y=0

 

John,

Nice find! I've had the opportunity to pick a couple of these over a few years but they were always really low grade or messed up.

It is a rare variety but my impression is that quite a few in the middle grades have come to market recently if one is willing to pay a variety premium. For reference, Gerry Fortin currently has a VF20 in OGH holder for sale at $350 so I think you were given good pricing advice by whomever you spoke with!

 

Crazy thing is, Heritage also auctioned an OGH VF20 for $1150 years ago. Wonder if it's the same coin?

 

It is! And he also is selling a consigned VF35 for $1495.