“Lost, between Zeigler Street, Roxbury, and Boston Common, a live oak cane, silver ring and eyes, ivory head, and a dime set into the top. Whoever will return the same to the house of Dr. Stewart in Roxbury, or at this office, shall be suitably rewarded.” — Boston Post, March 11, 1834 A wonder coin of extraordinary freshness, this superb gem delights with aesthetic appeal. The fields are reflective but show satiny luster of exceptional brightness. Superb golden toning covers much of the obverse, supported by an arc of pastel blue around the lower obverse rim, focusing the eye on the brilliant silver center. Pastel blue surrounds the reverse, the outermost concentric circle wrapped around rings of magenta and golden orange that frame the brilliant center. The surfaces are free of even minor post-striking defects. Struck from an early state of the dies, still showing a raised artifact below the eagle’s beak that remains from the die finishing process. Many of the die cracks described in the JR book are present but microscopic, including the crack that joins 834 near their bases before meeting the border, short cracks into the field from the lower inner points of stars 11 and 12, and even shorter cracks that join the top leaf and the middle arrowhead to the adjacent denticle. The light cracks at the bases of ATES and MER are not yet fully developed and are barely visible even with magnification. While relatively common in high grades, there are no other specimens of this issue that can match this quality. This is the single finest 1834 dime graded by PCGS of any variety, within the Small 4 or Large 4 types. PCGS# 38877. NGC ID: 237E.
