Lot 526
1796 Draped Bust Dime. Sharpness of AU-50 but cleaned and retoned. Cleaned with resulting hairlines in the fields and retoned to a dark brownish-gray. The fields show more than just a light cleaning, with surface problems noted. Furthermore, approximately one-half of the reeding is missing on the edge, this isn't entirely uncommon on these early dimes, but we must note it in case it has been repaired.
What is important on this coin is that it is boldly struck, with full curls on Liberty and most of the feathers on the eagle save for the breast feathers (which wore away in about 5 minutes of circulation, if indeed, they were struck well enough to begin with to even show). This variety is the most common of the six known die pairings of the year, and all but a single coin show a lump below the first star near the date. The lump was caused by a bubble in the die steel which causes a raised lump on all the coins struck with this die. Certainly a coin that should be inspected as the problems need to be evaluated carefully to come to a proper value.
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| Realized $4,025 |
