“Not long since I sent to the United States Mint a parcel of Spanish coins, mostly the one-eighth and sixteenth parts of a dollar (‘eleven-penny-bits’ and ‘fip-penny-bits’) … requesting the value of them to be returned to me in dimes and half dimes (ten cent and five cent pieces). … The officer said that the coins were generally 25 per cent. too light, thus in receiving at their nominal value so small a sum as $15 in such coin we lose upwards of $3.” — Hazard’s Register of Pennsylvania, June 19, 1830 The finest known example of this overdate variety, this piece’s stunning toning gives it the edge over the other 1830/29 dime certified at this grade level. The obverse fields are fairly reflective, while the reverse’s luster is satiny. Bright lemon yellow covers most of the obverse, yielding to pale violet in the southwest quadrant of that side. Hints of rose and olive are also seen. The reverse toning is equally beautiful but more typical in shade, showing peach and violet centers inside blue and gold at the peripheries. The strike is strong, just a little soft in the curls behind Liberty’s eye and on the back of the eagle’s neck. The detail on the date is remarkable, showing the highest relief of the formerly present 29 still visible atop the highest relief of the 30 that was punched atop the partially effaced vestiges of the underdigits. A delicate die crack begins under the left side of the 0 at the rim, arcs through the bottom of that digit on its way to an inside point of star 13, then joins all other stars on the right by their outer points before reaching the rim above star 8. Another crack is mostly hidden within the back of Liberty’s cap, and a tiny rim cud fuses three denticles behind the cap. An area of die rust appears around Liberty’s neck curl, the lowest point on the face of the obverse die and thus the most difficult to polish once oxidation begins. Only the most subtle lines are present, mostly in the left obverse field, and we note just a little contact point inside star 9. Incomparably well-preserved, this is both the best and most beautiful of the known specimens from this die marriage and the finest known 1830/29 from either die variety. The other MS-67 certified by PCGS, a JR-4, is a frosty white coin, upgraded from MS-66 to MS-67 in late 2005 and later in the Joseph C. Thomas Collection. Lovejoy’s, the JR plate coin, was graded just MS-60, and the Juan XII Soros coin was an NGC MS-63. As the only overdate in the Small Dentils, Capped Bust series, the 1830/29 dime has always received special collector attention. Connoisseurs will find no finer example than this one. PCGS# 4519. NGC ID: 237A.
