I thought this dime looked pretty wild with what I am seeing are some serious die cracks on both sides.. Thoughts? I am having a tough time figuring out what variety it is but I like it...
Very interesting! I love die cracks...never seen cracks quite like this. It must be due to the thick rim of the Sitting Liberty design.
I have no idea what variety number it may be. My studies of the seated dime series is quite limited I do have one old seated dime with some rather strange die cracks on it. As far as yours is concerned I thing it is a VERY COOL specimen. I love that look on that series of coin. I wonder how much longer they were able to run that particular set of die before they exploded. One other thing I have always wondered is when dies became worn to that point if mint employees would bets on when the dies would blow. Just a strange coin thought
I read on the seated dime variety site that die cracks on the 1858 are scarce. The examples they show for the varieties didn't show any that were this bad. Have to wonder what the mint employees would think when these were minted (betting wise). Since it was a lower mintage for Phila. The only not so nice part is the hit on the obverse field...
If so, any idea what might have caused that? They look raised to me, at least from the photos...Not saying they might not be scratches...
It's hard for me to tell if they're raised or not. Conder, what led you to draw that conclusion? Inquiring minds want to know. Chris
They appear raised to me and I'd love to know what he might be seeing to say they are scratches as well..
IMHO if you look at the 13th to the 10th stars on the obverse the "scratch" in question look to be cut into the design leading me to believe that it is indeed a scratch. However w/o seeing it in hand it is nearly impossible to tell for sure.
I guess I will find out for sure when it arrives as it was 10.00, if scratches no big loss.... Sure looks raised around the rims other than the hit on the field itself.
Scratches do raise metal because they displace it. Take a good look when it arrives and let us know. Lance.
Will do on letting everyone know. True enough about the metal displacement even with a scratch but hopefully, it isn't scratches other than the field ding on the obverse...
They also appear to cut into the top of UNIT. They also just don't behave like die cracks. Die crack tend to jump from stress point to stress point on a die. Letter to letter, star to star, letter to device, letter to rim etc. Look at the one on the reverse where it leaves the T in UNITED and then curves all the way around to S2 staying in the space between the lettering and the denticals without touching either of then and no branching cracks. They just don't do that.
