Lot 2110
1820 Capped Bust Dime. "STATESOFAMERICA". PCGS graded AU-58. A scarce variety and this one is very close to mint state and may actually qualify. Full separation on the uppermost curls on Liberty, and lovely light steel gray color over abundant luster. Die swelling on the obverse through the first four stars, as often seen. Sharply struck and a truly exceptional coin for the grade. PCGS has only graded 4 examples of this variety, this one and 2 as MS-64, and 1 as MS-65. Curiously, the reverse die was used in 1814, and then reused again in 1820 to coin more dimes, but the story just gets interesting now, for the reverse die was sold as scrap metal during the 1830s, and found its way to New York coin dealer Robert Bashlow by 1962. Bashlow took the die Scotland and struck several impressions in various metals, but when he returned to the United States, the Customs Office forced him to surrender the die and all the impressions he had made, and then destroyed the die and all the impressions, despite the pleas from the Smithsonian curator who had heard about the incident. Hence the historic die was lost, but supposedly a few impressions made by Bashlow are still known.
Estimated Value $800 - 1,200.
From the Larry Blackwelder collection via Julian Leidman in 1993.
|
| |
| Realized $2,185 |
