1877 Pattern Dime. Judd-1498, Pollock-1651. Rarity-7-. Copper. Reeded Edge. Proof-65 BN (PCGS). CAC. <strong>Obv:</strong> A bust of Liberty faces left with 13 stars around the border and the date 1877 below. Liberty is wearing a coronet inscribed LIBERTY, and her hair is tied back with a ribbon. This motif is similar to William Barbers famous Sailor Head design of 1875. <strong>Rev:</strong> The same design that the Mint used to strike regular issue 1877 Liberty Seated dimes. Fully original in preservation with dominant copper-brown patina, both sides also exhibit vivid undertones of powder blue and/or champagne-pink iridescence as the surfaces dip into a light. Reflective fields support satiny, sharply struck design elements. A few faint spots and wispy marks over and around the obverse portrait serve as useful provenance markers, but the in hand appearance is generally smooth, and the Gem grade from PCGS is fully justified, as verified by CAC. In fact, this is the only example of Judd-1498 that has been verified by CAC, confirming the significance of this offering for collectors of the finest U.S. Mint pattern and related coinage. The <em>uspatterns.com</em> website reports that only eight specimens of this Judd number are confirmed, including the present Gem Proof example, which is the fifth coin in the websites census listing. Ex our (Bowers and Ruddys) River Oaks & C.W. Krugjohann Part II Collections sale, November 1976, lot 945; New England Rare Coin Auctions Metropolitan New York Sale of March-April 1978, lot 528; Superiors Baltimore 93 Auction, July 1993, lot 664; Superiors Elite Coin Auction of July 2003, lot 489; Heritages Signature Sale of November 2003, lot 11210; Heritages CSNS Signature Sale of May 2004, lot 10643; Robert L. Hughes, November 2012; Heritages New York Signature Auction of February 2014, lot 5533; Heritages FUN Signature Auction of January 2015, lot 6756; Legend Rare Coin Auctions sale of the Steven Cook Collection of Patterns, Part I, May 2018 Regency Auction 26, lot 836.
