1830/29 Capped Bust Dime. JR-4. Rarity-7 as a Proof. Proof-63 (NGC). This impressive rarity represents a significant find and fleeting bidding opportunity for the advanced collector of classic United States Mint Proof coinage. The strike is razor sharp in most areas with just a touch of softness evident to a few of the high points on the reverse. Minimally toned in iridescent golden peripheral highlights, the surfaces are predominantly brilliant to allow full appreciation of mirrored fields and lightly frosted design elements.<p>Missing from the 1914 ANS Exhibition, there was no Proof 1830 dime present in most major collections of early dimes and early Proofs, including Norweb, Lovejoy, Starr, and Gardner. Indeed, elusiveness characterizes all U.S. Mint Proofs from the early 1830s. Certainly they are rare, coined from single-digit mintages, but they are also difficult to define and lacking nearly any paper trail or record. Once diplomatic sets were introduced in 1834, there was both a reason for Proofs to exist and a standard against which specimens could be judged. Earlier pieces are shrouded in mystery. They were clearly specially made, and vigorous scholarship over decades has enabled modern numismatists to create a reasonably consistent framework of expectations, but we are unable to answer the simplest imaginable question: why was this coin made? Perhaps for a pioneering collector already active in this era, a man like Robert Gilmor, Jr. of Baltimore, who in 1841 wrote that his serious interest in collecting American coins began "many years ago?" Or for a VIP, someone like John Quincy Adams, who wrote a request as early in 1810 to receive "a specimen of every one of the coins of the Mint of the United States." Aside from the accidental discovery of revealing documents, the true story of early Proofs may never be known.<p>The experts at <em>PCGS CoinFacts</em> suggest that only three to five Proof 1830 dimes are known. We have handled specimens from both the JR-4 and JR-6 dies, the former struck from an overdated 1829 obverse die, although most of the underdigit is polished away on the Proofs. Even so, the present example retains slight remnants of the overdate feature at the digits 830. From Heritages sale of the Charles G. Wright Family Collection, April 2014 CSNS Signature Auction, lot 4102; Heritages CSNS Signature Auction of April 2020, lot 3688.
