Seated Liberty Dimes 1837-1891

Coining of the Seated Liberty dime began at Philadelphia on June 30, 1837, with a small run of proofs to mark the occasion. Christian Gobrecht had engraved the seated figure from drawings by the painters Thomas Sully and Titian Peale, and it had already appeared on the silver dollars of 1836. The first dimes had no stars on the obverse, only Liberty and the date. New Orleans struck the same starless design in 1838, its first dimes, after two pairs of dies arrived from Philadelphia that May.

Philadelphia's 1838 dimes gained an arc of thirteen stars, but the master hub did not yet include them, so each star was punched into every working die by hand. In mid-1840 the figure was reworked, probably by the sculptor Robert Ball Hughes. The new version added a thick fold of drapery under Liberty's left elbow, put the stars into the hub, and opened the buds on the reverse wreath.

Rising silver prices drove the next change. Gold discoveries in California had cheapened gold against silver, and silver coins were worth more as metal than at face value. The Act of February 21, 1853 reduced the weight of every silver coin from the half dime to the half dollar by about seven percent, from 41.25 grains to 38.4 grains for the dime. Arrowheads beside the date marked the lighter coins until 1856, when the Mint judged the new coinage widespread enough to drop them. San Francisco began striking dimes in 1856.

In 1860 the reverse got an elaborate wreath of cereal grains and leaves, and the legend UNITED STATES OF AMERICA moved to the obverse, taking the place of the stars. The work is credited to Chief Engraver James B. Longacre, though assistant engraver Anthony C. Paquet is thought to have engraved the wreath. San Francisco, still waiting on new dies, struck its 1860 dimes in the old stars design. The Civil War ended New Orleans dime coinage after 1860, and hoarding during the war years kept Philadelphia's circulation mintages to a few thousand pieces from 1863 to 1867.

Carson City began striking dimes in 1871. The Mint Act of February 12, 1873 nudged the weight up to an even 2.5 grams, and arrows returned beside the date for 1873 and 1874. Demand for small silver coins collapsed after 1878, as long-hoarded pieces came back into circulation, and from 1879 to 1881 Philadelphia struck only small numbers of business strikes so collectors could buy current dimes. Output rose again from 1882, New Orleans returned for 1891, and the design was replaced by Charles E. Barber's in 1892.

Obverse. Liberty sits on a rock, her right hand resting on a shield inscribed LIBERTY and her left holding a pole topped with a liberty cap. The date is below.

Reverse. Through 1860 (the 1860-S included), ONE DIME sits inside a laurel wreath with UNITED STATES OF AMERICA around the edge. From 1860, a larger wreath of corn, wheat, maple and oak leaves fills the coin and the legend is gone from this side.

Mint mark. On the reverse. On the stars and No Stars types, the O or S sits inside the wreath, under DIME and above the bow. On the legend type it moved below the bow, close to the rim. Some 1875-S and 1875-CC dies put it back above the bow, so both positions are collected for those two issues. Philadelphia dimes have none.

Telling the types apart:

In 1853 both the old-weight No Arrows coins and the new Arrows coins were struck, and in 1873 the same happened at the 2.49 and 2.50 gram standards.

1838 star sizes. The first 1838 dies were punched with the small star punch used for half dimes. After that obverse failed, larger stars became the normal style, which is why "Large Stars" describes the usual 1838 dime rather than a variety.

Mintages below are the figures NGC or USA Coin Book give for each issue.

• 1873-CC No Arrows: Mint records list 12,400 struck, and one example is known. It likely survived because it was held back for assay testing when the rest were melted. It sold for $1.84 million in 2012 and $3.6 million in 2023.
• 1874-CC: 10,817 struck from a single die pair.
• 1871-CC: 20,100 struck, Carson City's first dimes. Its reverse die was used for every Carson City dime through 1874.
• 1872-CC: 35,480 struck. A crack through the CC developed on the reverse during the year.
• 1873-CC Arrows: 18,791 struck. Its reverse carries the crack through the mint mark.
• 1846: 31,300 struck, all from one pair of dies.
• 1844: 72,500 struck. A magazine writer of the 1930s and 1940s nicknamed it the "Little Orphan Annie" dime.
• 1860-O: 40,000 struck, the only legend-type New Orleans dime before 1891.
• 1856-S: 70,000 struck, San Francisco's first dimes. 1858-S and 1859-S each had 60,000.
• 1885-S: 43,690 struck from one die pair.
• Civil War Philadelphia dimes: business strikes of 1863 (14,000), 1864 (11,000), 1865 (10,000), 1866 (8,000) and 1867 (6,000).
• Collector-era dimes: 1879 (14,000), 1880 (36,000) and 1881 (24,000), kept small on purpose so collectors could obtain current-year dimes at face value. NGC notes that speculators took much of the 1879 issue when it was new.
• 1853 No Arrows: 95,000 struck in two February deliveries at the old weight. Any not paid out before the new law took effect were likely melted.
• 1860-S: 140,000 struck in the old stars design, the only 1860 dimes without the legend.
• 1838 Small Stars: about 30,000 estimated, struck with half dime star punches and paired with a reverse showing a doubled D in DIME. Another 1838 die state, called "Partial Drapery", shows a raised band near Liberty's elbow left by a clash with the E of DIME.
• 1841 No Drapery proof: two are known. They show the Hughes figure without its elbow drapery, and why they were made is not recorded.
• 1841-O transitional reverses: New Orleans paired two leftover Closed Bud reverses from the No Drapery years with the new obverse (Fortin F-101 and F-102).
• 1873 Open 3 and Closed 3: early 1873 date punches made the 3 look like an 8, so the Mint opened it up. Closed 3 and Open 3 No Arrows dimes exist; the 60,000 figure often given for the Open 3 is a reconstruction that NGC doubts.
• 1875-CC and 1875-S mint mark positions: 1875-CC above the bow, 1875-CC below the bow, 1875-S above the bow and 1875-S below the bow.
• 1877-CC 1877/6: a faint 6 shows on the face of the second 7 (Fortin F-107, FS-10-1877CC-301).
• 1873 Arrows doubled die and misplaced date: one obverse shows strong doubling on the shield and LIBERTY ribbon plus a stray 7 in the denticles (Fortin F-103, FS-10-1873-101).
• 1876-CC: struck with two reverse styles; on the Type 2, the E of ONE stands away from the wheat leaf. A doubled die obverse is also known.
• 1891-O: New Orleans's last Seated dimes, with many repunched dates and mint marks, among them an O punched over a sideways O (Fortin F-109).
• 1859 transitional (J-233): the 1859 stars obverse paired with the 1860 cereal-wreath reverse, so it carries no country name. NGC puts the number known at about 15.

Die varieties in this series are usually attributed by the F-numbers in Gerry Fortin's online web-book, which NGC also uses for its VarietyPlus attributions. Earlier variety guides were written by Kamal Ahwash and Brian Greer.

• Composition: 90% silver, 10% copper throughout
• Weight and silver content:
  • 1837 to early 1853 (no arrows): 2.67 g, holding 0.0773 troy oz of silver
  • 1853 (with arrows) to early 1873: 2.49 g, holding 0.0720 troy oz
  • 1873 (with arrows) to 1891: 2.50 g, holding 0.0723 troy oz
• Diameter: 17.9 mm
• Edge: reeded