Finest Known 1802 JR-3 Dime, AU58

1802 10C AU58 NGC. JR-3, R.6. A lustrous beauty, this important dime only has a trace of wear on the design highpoints. Slight weakness is evident at the centers, with strong peripheral definition. The surfaces exhibit rich intermingled gold, russet, and blue toning. Nearly full satin luster is noted on both sides. A few faint scratches and other imperfections are evident, especially on the cheek and neck. The overall eye appeal of this piece is exceptional. A minor edge anomaly is present over stars 2 and 3 on the obverse.

Die State. Faint obverse clash marks are evident on this piece, as they are on late die states of 1802 JR-2. The reverse has a minor die crack from the border to the final A and the inner curve of C. Another fine die crack from cloud 6 to star 6 continues to star 11, crossing the ribbon, shield, left claw, and arrows, to the lower border. A third crack joins the lower border to the left side of the tail feathers. This third crack was unlisted in the dime book.

Condition Census. Clearly the finest known 1802 JR-3 dime, and possibly the only existing AU piece. One other was graded AU in the dime book, but today is considered XF.

Appearances. Plated in the 2006 Stack's catalog of the Northern Bay Collection.

Obverse Die. Tip of the hair curl is under the center of the B. Star 1 is distant from the hair curl, star 13 is closer to the drapery, and stars 7 and 8 are each very close to the L and Y. The 1 is close to the lower curl, and the 2 is about centered between the bust and border. The stars are all separated with star pairs 2-3 and 5-6 closer than the others. LIBERTY is evenly spaced with all letters separated and the L slightly low.
State a. Faint clash marks at the throat and a die line at upper right, as late states of 1802 JR-2 dimes. State b. The die line is weak, probably due to die lapping.

Reverse Die. All three E's have their upper left serif missing and extended by hand. No letters in the legend are joined. The U is slightly low with its bottom very close to an arrow shaft. D is close to the fourth feather but clearly separated. Letters in STATES OF are centered between the border and clouds. The upright of the E is over a cloud space. AMER and CA are close with the final A very close to the claw. A leaf joins the base of I, right of center. The upper inside berry is Stemless. The outer arrow point is slightly left of the left base of N, with the longest arrow below the inside foot of the left upright. Star 12 touches the ribbon and upper beak, and star 13 is isolated in the field.
State a. A short die crack or die scratch joins the second feather on the right with the left side of first A in AMERICA.

Heritage Commentary. The obverse clash marks tell us that 1802 JR-3 was struck after late die states of 1802 JR-2, possibly with the obverse die lapped in the meantime.

Consignor Commentary. This is easily the finest known. There are also three XF coins and several lower grade coins. For a while I owned all three XF coins. Two of them had clear damage on the obverse or reverse, or both. The third was the JR plate coin, a very nice weakly struck XF (called AU in the dime book). For many years it was believed to be the finest known. Then in 2006, the present Northern Bay coin appeared out of nowhere. It was clearly the finest, a well struck Choice AU piece with outstanding eye appeal. Stu Levine and I agreed that it worth as much as $30,000 and asked Tony Terranova to represent me at the auction. Fortunately Tony understood that, for a coin like this, a maximum bid was just a guideline and paid the $32,500 hammer that was needed to buy it. The three XF coins were readily absorbed by the market from 2005 thru 2007.

Provenance. Ex: Northern Bay Collection (Stack's, 3/2006), lot 4155
From The Ed Price Collection.(Registry values: P7) (#4472)

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