“I will thank you to cause to be prepared two sets of the coins of the United States in caskets, similar to those already prepared for this Department.” — Secretary of State John Forsyth to Mint Director Samuel Moore, March 31, 1835 An impressive Proof striking, this piece’s finish resembles the fine quality of Proof Philadelphia Mint products from the last decade of the 19th century. Extraordinarily reflective and decorated with the finest magenta, cobalt, and pastel blue toning highlights over mostly brilliant surfaces, this dime is spectacularly preserved, looking just as it must have for a century and a half or more. Bold contrast sets the well-struck devices off from the mirrored fields, giving a bright backdrop to an impressive array of fine details. The surfaces are pristine, hiding a few trivial hairlines in the left obverse field but free of visible marks. Some lintmark-like depressions are seen, including one in the circular space beneath the eagle’s beak and another near the wingpit at left. A scattering of what have been termed planchet chips is seen around both peripheries, more visible on the reverse than obverse. Instead of representing pieces missing from the planchet, these are more likely impressions of fine dust and chips left behind when the die faces were polished. The phenomenon is quite common on Proof strikings but rarely if ever encountered on circulation strikes. A light planchet fissure or streak is noted below the right side of M in AMERICA. The only die crack described in the JR book, joining the bottom arrowhead to the rim, is present here, affirming that the die cracked during hardening. While the Proof sets of 1834 that were given to the King of Siam and the Sultan of Muscat are the stuff of numismatic legend, the Proof sets prepared for the emperors of Cochin-China and Japan are less well known. Eric Newman and Ken Bressett discovered the paper trail for these diplomatic gifts in the research for their 1962 book The Fantastic 1804 Dollar, noting therein, “these presentation sets should have consisted of coins dated 1835, all of which were in normal production except for the dollar and the eagle.” Edmund Roberts, the emissary who carried these Proof sets to Asia and the subject of Q. David Bowers’ book-length treatment of the subject, wrote to Secretary of State Forsyth on April 21, 1835, to inform him “I rec’d the small package containing the two sets of coins from the Director of the Mint.” Roberts was successful in delivering the 1834 sets, but his death from dysentery on June 12, 1836, in Macao left the 1835-dated sets undelivered, their disposition unknown. One of the most dramatic Proof strikings of this entire type known, this is one of just two Proof 1835 dimes to receive the Cameo designation from PCGS. There are 11 entries on the PCGS Population Report for Proof 1835 dimes; compared with the estimated total surviving population of 10 to 12 specimens, it is unlikely that each entry represents a discrete specimen. Though this piece has no clearly traceable provenance before its time in the Northern Bay Collection, it is possibly the Wolfson coin, sold by Stack’s in May 1963. While unplated in the Wolfson catalog, its verbal description is consistent with this coin, and the timing and venue is consistent with other major acquisitions in the Northern Bay Collection. This date has been missing in Proof from some of the most important collections of early dimes ever assembled, including Pittman and Bareford. The F.C.C. Boyd specimen, attributed in the Breen Proof book as the Reed Hawn coin in one paragraph and the “Phila. Estate” coin in the next, turned up in the latter location in October 1992, when the Floyd T. Starr Collection was sold by Stack’s in October 1992. Despite its august provenance, that coin was not as well-preserved as this one. It last sold in the November 2011 Heritage sale as Proof-63 (PCGS). Perhaps as many as ten Proof 1835 dimes survive, nearly all of which are from the JR-4 die marriage. PCGS appears to have only ever extended Proof certification to examples struck from this die pair, though NGC has certified at least one other. Most of the other Proof 1835 dimes show neither this coin’s level of preservation nor its superlative visual appeal. In an era where definitive and unquestioned Proofs are the exception, a coin like this stands out boldly. PCGS# 84557. NGC ID: 237P.
