Double Dime

Lost and found.

 

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There was an old vegetable vendor that pushed a handcart down the alleys in our neighborhood. He sold produce out of his garden. One day mom gave me a Fifty Cent Piece and asked me to go out to him and buy something. Mom said it would be Twenty-Five Cents. I gave him the half dollar and he gave me a Twenty Cent Piece. They were almost the same size as a quarter and only in use for a few years in the 1870’s for this same reason – confusion. Now, technically, the vendor gained Five Cents and mom lost Five Cents. As I thought, when I told mom about the mix-up, I was told to put it in my coin collection.

I have recently given this to my youngest son who was born in 1975

 

This is my one and only from my type set. How it didn't get a details grade, I don't know. It's long been a candidate for replacement. Nevertheless, kinda pretty to the naked eye.

 

I love provenance on a coin. It really adds to the interest for me. I have many of them in my collection, but most are "blue-collar" examples. Nothing nearly as nice as yours. Great addition!

Bruce

 

Double dimes have fascinated me since high school. I now have a complete set, minus the rare 1876-CC. This 1876 in MS-65 is my best one.



The 1877 is the rarest one I have.



I like my 1878 more.



My 1875-CC is a bit funky, but not bad.

 

Publius2 just looking at that coin, I think it would straight grade.
I assume those are die polish marks and not cleaning scratches. Unless you have examined both sides of this coin with a microscope, I don't see any damage.

 

It seems that I've misplaced my pictures! I've got a 1875-S FS-302 S/S MPD in relatively decent condition, but those images are AWOL. If I can't locate them soon, I'll grab some new ones this weekend. She's nice looking, but nothing compared to some of these so far!

 

Well the John Milton coins are usually museum quality.
With the super rare dates, condition etc.
But if the Publius coin straight grades it looks MS to me.

 

Unfortunately, they are not die polishing marks. NGC gave it an MS-60 straight grade but I think it's been harshly cleaned. Bought it from not-so-good photos and kinda early in my collecting career, so one of those early hard lessons.

 

Well if NGC straight graded it, it's an MS coin and it looks way better than MS 60. Who said it was details PCGS?

 

@physics-fan3.14 . Thanks for the flashbacks and also for posting such a great coin.
I truly wonder just how many of those jewels from that auction have been dipped now. So many coins were at or near at terminal black, but what an opportunity to discover what might be under all that toning.
I know I followed that sale almost coin by coin when it came to the Seated coins but the bidders were fierce. I don't think I even made it within the 3rd or 4th final bid.
What a great coin to own though. You must be thrilled to have both the provenance and the coin. Congrats. james

 

https://lsccweb.org/

Lane was a friend (astrorat on the PCGS board); we lost him to brain cancer in 2022. John (Frost) is working on an update to the book, per this article:

https://lsccweb.org/Portals/2/DblDimesLookBackandForwardto2025_Jam2025.pdf

 

Thanks for that Burton. I would like to buy a copy when it's done.

 

I talked to John for a few minutes at ANA WFoM, and he didn't have a date. I'm sure it will get some good PR at LSSC and the NBS eSylum (https://www.coinbooks.org/esylum/).

It's good news, bad news - he's lost his long-time collaborator, but he has the two reference collections (his and Lane's) together, which makes comparisons easier than when they had to travel.