1796 10C MS(PCGS#4461)

November 2025 Showcase Auction U.S. Coins

Commissaire-priseur

Stack's Bowers

Numéro du lot

2042

Grade

AU53

Prix

24 000

Description du lot

Very scarce in a CAC-approved example of this historic first year dime issue at the certified AU level. This peripherally toned beauty exhibits halos of olive and pinkish-apricot iridescence around virtually brilliant centers, direct lighting also calling forth more vivid powder blue undertones. Strike detail is sharp in most areas, and wear is expectably minimal for the assigned grade. With traces of softly frosted luster and only a few wispy handling marks, this gently circulated example was extremely fortunate to be set aside early, and then kept from being turned into the Mint for melting. It is a superior example of the type and issue that is worthy of strong bids.<p>Authorized by the Act of April 2, 1792, regular issue dime coinage commenced at the Philadelphia Mint with a delivery of 14,520 coins on January 18, 1796. Additional deliveries came on February 13 (1,750 coins), March 30 (1,680 coins), April 9 (2,750 coins) and May 27 (1,435 coins), for a total mintage of 22,135 dimes for calendar year 1796. According to some numismatic scholars, as reported in the 1984 reference <em>Early United States Dimes: 1796-1837</em> by the John Reich Collectors Society, the deliveries of February 28 (3,864 coins) and March 21, 1797 (6,380 coins) may also have been from 1796-dated dies. If true, the total mintage for this issue would be 32,379 pieces. The same reference states that the 1,680-coin delivery of March 30, 1796, comprises the total mintage of the JR-3 die pairing, offered here.<p>As the first regular issue dime in U.S. coinage history and one of only two issues of the Draped Bust, Small Eagle design type, the 1796 is very popular. Winston Zack, Louis Scuderi and Michael Sherrill (<em>Bust Dime Variety Identification Guide</em>, 2015) offer an estimate of 800 to 1,200 coins extant in all grades. The JR-3 die pairing is the second rarest of the seven known for this issue. At some point fairly early on in its life, the reverse die - which was used only for JR-3 - experienced a major triangle-shaped rim break above the letters TA in STATES, with a die crack also leading through the wreath and piercing the eagle's right wing. This break proved to be terminal for the die and resulted in only a small number of examples being struck with this feature, hence its rarity today. The offered coin represents a late die state for the variety, with a retained cud break above the first letter T in STATES.