“He demanded twelve and a half cents from each of us for ferryage. The Yankee in vain higgled, nearly half an hour, endeavoring to get him to take a ten cent piece.” — Algernon Sidney Johnston, Memoirs of a Nullifier, 1832 Beautifully satiny and extremely frosty, the surfaces of this gem are toned in lovely shades of gold, with distant peripheral highlights of pastel blue and violet. No marks or nicks are seen on either side, and careful examination finds only a short hairline left of the date, a curved hairline under the eagle’s wing at right, and a shallow abrasion beneath IT of UNITED. The visual appeal is spectacular, and the detail is well above average. The curl behind Liberty’s eye shows modest softness of strike, as does the left border of the shield, typical locations that are often seen far weaker. Some dispersed fragile die cracks are seen under good magnification, one connecting the inner points of stars 1 and 2 before exiting from the point of star 2 closest to the rim, a spur from the southwest point of star 5, a longitudinal bisector of star 9, and a delicate connector of the inner points of stars 11 through 13 of the sort that wouldn’t be seen on a coin of lesser grade. A light crack crosses the tops of 832 of the date, as described in the JR book. On the reverse, two light cracks exit the wingtip at left, one running to the leaves below while the other stops at the rim below U. Another is seen leaving the bottom of E in UNITED and intersecting the upper left corner of the motto scroll, and a heavier crack begins at the rim near 12:00, runs down the upright of E in STATES, crosses the top of the scroll to the right before crossing over to the top of the wing at right and continuing halfway down the right side of the wing. While high grade coins are often more beautiful than low grade coins, they also expose die cracks and other technical aspects that could not be otherwise studied. As one of the very finest known of the date and variety, it is unsurprising that this coin comes from the collection of Louis Eliasberg and equally foreseeable that it would end up in the D. Brent Pogue Collection. The last opportunity to buy an 1832 dime of this quality at public auction was in April 2009 when the present coin was acquired for this remarkable cabinet. PCGS# 38860. NGC ID: 237C.
