1838 Liberty Seated Dime. No Drapery. Fortin-101a, FS-801. Rarity-3. Small Stars. Doubled Die Reverse. MS-66+ (PCGS).This is a beautiful 1838 dime, vividly toned on both sides over intense satin luster. The strike is full, the surfaces are smooth, and the quality is truly remarkable for a scarce and conditionally challenging variety from the early Liberty Seated dime series.The basic Liberty Seated design type made its debut on the dime in 1837 with production of No Stars examples at the Philadelphia Mint. Despite the lovely cameo-like appearance of these first year examples, the Mint modified the Liberty Seated design in 1838 through the addition of 13 stars around the obverse periphery. (The 1838-O features the No Stars type.) The stars were individually punched into each working die. Of the 14 die marriages of this issue known to Gerry Fortin (seateddimevarieties.com), all but one were prepared using large-size star punches. The exception is Fortin-101, the small size of the stars leading some experts to speculate that the device punch used for this die was originally intended for the half dime series.The Philadelphia Mints first delivery of 1838-dated dimes came on March 31 of that year and amounted to 30,000 coins. Although there is no evidence to support this theory, some numismatists assert that this delivery accounts for the entire mintage from the Fortin-101 Small Stars die pairing. Based on the number of examples extant, however, Bowers puts forth a more realistic estimate of 250,000 coins struck for this variety. In any event, the Small Stars variety constitutes a small percentage of the 1,992,500 dimes struck in 1838, and survivors are much scarcer than their Large Stars counterparts in all grades. In Mint State the 1838 Small Stars is rare. The present example is the second finest certified behind the NGC MS-68 * formerly in the Bob Simpson Collection. This is a glorious premium Gem that would serve as a highlight in any cabinet of Liberty Seated coinage or PCGS Registry Set.In addition to its desirability as the only Small Stars variety of the 1838 dime, Fortin-101 is a Doubled Die Reverse with doubling evident at the base of the letters O in ONE, D in DIME, and throughout the wreath. Represented here is the late die state Fortin-101a with advanced cracks around the peripheries on both sides. The offered coin served as the plate coin for the 1838 Small Stars dime on page 145 of the 2016 reference <em>A Guide Book of Liberty Seated Silver Coins</em> by Q. David Bowers.Ex Jason Carter, November 2004; Eugene H. Gardner; Heritages sale of the Eugene H. Gardner Collection, Part IV, October 2015, lot 98229.
