Looking to view some circulated draped bust dimes

bosco5041 · March 3, 2012 9:58PM

Is their a site or does someone have a large circulated collection of draped bust dimes ( VG- AU). I have looked at all the dealer websites that are in the "Master list" and there was a few here and there.I'm trying to learn how to grade these and want to see as many as possible without going to dozens of shows. I have visited the PCGS photograde site, Did searches on the forum, and visited many of the dealer websites that carry early coins. I'm only interested in circulated draped bust dimes not the high grade uncs. thanks

Baley · March 3, 2012 10:35PM

most of the DB dimes you'll run across will be dated 1807 and 1805. the other dates, when seen, will generally have problems of some kind.

the 1807 is usually weakly struck about the periphery

did you know that this reverse die was also used to strike quarter eagles?

BillJones · March 3, 2012 10:48PM

Here are the two pieces that are currently in my type set. As a young collector I had access to most all of the dates, including one of the finest known examples of the 1804 dime. I was close to buying it at a auction, and the dealer who had been sent there to bid for a client was giving me signals that I virtually had his reserve beaten, but I just ran out of money and couldn't go the last step.

At any rate, my 1796, JR-1 with the usual die cud to the left of the date.

The 1805 dime with four berries on the reverse, which got me hooked on early U.S. coinage.

I have a photo of a 1797 dime with the 16 star obverse that I owned at one time, but I can't lay my hands on the photo disk at the moment.

bosco5041 · March 3, 2012 11:00PM

Thanks for the info Baley. Bill, that is two fine looking dimes you have there. I know they have a lot of striking issues and I was wanting to see many of them and see how they were graded with all the different striking issues. There is an AU on one of the sites and it has a lot of missing detail but not much wear at all.Thanks

golddustin · March 3, 2012 11:41PM

For such small coins, those sure have a lot goin' on. No wonder a person would get interested in them. Lots of design elements, die cracks, cuds, planchet flaws, adjustment marks.........really neat little buggers! Plus the fact that they circulated when they did - who knows what dignitaries/historical figures (and fingers) those passed through?

Thanks for the photos.

Nysoto · March 4, 2012 12:20AM

I collected draped bust dimes by die variety around 2000-2006. Except for 1805 and 1807, they were extremely difficult to find problem free in VG to XF grades, so my collection was a mixed bag of grades from AG to AU58. The 1800-1804 years are the most difficult, each of these years is about as scarce as 1794 dollars. I owned what was probably the only F12 problem free 1803 dime. Unfortunately, I only took a few lousy pictures of my dimes before they were traded or sold.

All die marriages of DBD's will strike differently, and they also can vary in striking through the die stages. It is essential to have the EUSD book, and the Ed Price auction catalog from Heritage auction #1114 on July 30 - Aug 3, 2008. Price had the only complete set of die marriages of Draped Bust Dimes, including two unique die pairings, along with complete set of early quarter eagles.

Your best bet to view many images of DBD's is the Heritage archives.

Here is a few pics, excuse my lousy early attempts at pics:

R-8 cud 1803 JR3

1797 JR1 NGC EF40

1803 JR3 NGC F12

1798 JR4 NGC AU58

1801 PCGS G-6, which upgraded to PCGS VG

1805 5 berries NGC EF40 fatty

edit- one more, this was in a problem ANACS VF slab

edited to correct the Price auction date, thanks LML!

MrHalfDime · March 4, 2012 1:33AM

Here is a link to the Russell J. Logan collection, which contains images and descriptions of the Draped Bust dimes in his collection when it was sold at auction in November of 2002.

BillJones · March 4, 2012 1:33AM

Hi Nysoto!

I think I might have owned the 1797, 16 star dime you have (had). I'll have to find my picture of it.

bosco5041 · March 4, 2012 2:50AM

Thanks for posting the pictures of your dimes, I have been wondering what grade the 1805 dime with 5 berries graded Nysoto.

bosco5041 · March 4, 2012 2:52AM

<< <i>Here is a link to the Russell J. Logan collection, which contains images and descriptions of the Draped Bust dimes in his collection when it was sold at auction in November of 2002. >>

They sure did grade a few of them dimes tough, thanks for posting that.

MrHalfDime · March 4, 2012 3:17AM

"They sure did grade a few of them dimes tough"

It is interesting to note that there was no "they" involved in the grading. When Russ's widow, Brenda Logan, consigned Russ's coins to auction, she stipulated that the coins were not to be slabbed - the grades were to be Russ's own, as were all of the attributions. These were conditions of the consignment, and if not agreed to, the consignment would be pulled. And why not? Who could argue the attributions, as Russ had coauthored both the early dime and early half dime reference books, and he had amassed one of the more important collections of early silver Federal coins in existence.

Frozenink · March 4, 2012 4:30AM

Here is my only DBD to date.

Gary

BillJones · March 4, 2012 5:26AM

<< <i>"They sure did grade a few of them dimes tough"

It is interesting to note that there was no "they" involved in the grading. When Russ's widow, Brenda Logan, consigned Russ's coins to auction, she stipulated that the coins were not to be slabbed - the grades were to be Russ's own, as were all of the attributions. These were conditions of the consignment, and if not agreed to, the consignment would be pulled. And why not? Who could argue the attributions, as Russ had coauthored both the early dime and early half dime reference books, and he had amassed one of the more important collections of early silver Federal coins in existence. >>

I guess if you are a well known author and have a group of collectors who are ready to bid on your coins, you might be able to get away with selling your coins raw, but I sure as heck would not do that. I’ve felt for over 15 years now that any raw coins, other than early copper pieces in the EAC auctions, were usually raw for a reason. Usually a lot of raw coins that were offered had something wrong with them that made them ungradable.

Having gone through the aggravation of getting coins slabbed when I was a dealer, I would not recommend it to collectors who are only looking to get a small number of coins certified. As a dealer I used to submit a number of coins for grading. Sometimes I’d win; sometimes I’d lose and on average I’d come out ahead. BUT as if you are collector with only a few coins to submit the times you lose can make the situation very a very unhappy one for you. I buy the coins in the holder I want from the get-go, and I would recommend that to any collector.

AnkurJ · March 4, 2012 6:32AM

Here is my humble example

Looking to view some circulated draped bust dimes

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