A gem dime from the last year of the 18th century.An exceptional gem, toned in subtle lavender and silver gray tones with areas of rose, periwinkle, and gold. Frosty and lustrous, with simple but bold cartwheel on the obverse and a stunning degree of satiny luster on the reverse. The strike is typical, a bit soft at absolute centers and ill-defined among the denticles of the northwest obverse quadrant, but the definition elsewhere is excellent. This coin fully lives up to its grade, with no notable marks, just a few trivial hairlines, and magnificent aesthetic quality. No die cracks are noted.Probably the second finest extant specimen of this date, possibly surpassed by only the Adolphe Menjou (1950) - Harold Bareford (1981) - Allen Lovejoy (1990) - Gene Gardner (2014) coin, a PCGS MS-66 that sold (with no mention of its earlier provenance or status as the plate coin in the JR book) for $352,500 in June 2014. The Ed Price coin was NGC MS-65, cataloged as third finest known, trailing the Bareford coin and this one.
