Inter-Denominational Clash Marked 1807 Dime, JR-1, MS64

1807 10C MS64 PCGS. JR-1, R.2. Both sides have fully brilliant and frosty silver luster with delightful gold, rose, and pale blue toning. The strike is sharp and well centered with a full obverse border visible, although less fully defined at the left. The central details are completely visible, including a sharp center dot on the obverse, and full breast feathers above the shield on the reverse.

Die State. An early die state with obverse clash marks below the ear, below the chin, and at the throat. Little evidence of obverse die bulging is noted. The reverse has faint clash marks from its previous use with the 1807 quarter eagle obverse.

Condition Census. Numerous high-grade 1807 dimes exist, so attempting to compile any meaningful census is a difficult challenge, if it is even possible.

Appearances. We are unaware of any previous appearances.

Obverse Die. The 1 is nearly touches the lowest curl and the 7 is distant from the bust. LIB and ER are close, BE and RTY are further apart. Stars 1, 8, and 13 are close to the devices, and star 7 is far from the L.
State a. Perfect. State b. Heavy clash marks near the date and adjacent to the face and throat.

Reverse Die. All E's are missing their upper left serif. D is equally close to the third and fourth feathers. ITED are each slightly higher than their adjacent letter to the left. E and D lean slightly right. First S is slightly low and A is slightly high. The upright of E is over the space between clouds 4 and 5. First A close to the third and fourth feathers. Final A touches the claw. AME and RI are close while ER and ICA are widely spaced. Leaves join I under the right foot and C at the center. Five berries with one stemless, two having short stems, and two having long stems. Only one arrow point extends past the right side of U with the outer arrow point below center of that letter. Thirteen large stars with only star 5 in the top row not touching the clouds. Star 11 is sharply recut with a total of 10 points. Star 12 has a point between the lower and upper beak with another point touching the ribbon. Star 13 is isolated in the field, not touching devices.
State a. Perfect. State b. Peripheral weakness results from obverse die deterioration.

Heritage Commentary. The dual-denomination use of the reverse dies has resulted in unusual inter-denominational clash marks, the topic of an article that Ed Price wrote for the John Reich Journal. "An Inter-Denominational Die Clash" appeared in volume 9, issue 2, of the journal, pages 20-21.

"The same reverse die was used for the quarter eagles of 1805, 1806 (two varieties), and 1807. This accounted for about half of the almost 20,000 Heraldic Eagle quarter eagles minted from 1796 to 1807. This die was then used for the dimes of 1807, probably accounting for more than one-third of the approximately 314,000 Heraldic Eagle dimes minted from 1798 to 1807. The die was heavily clashed and worn by the end of its use for 1807 dimes."

During production of 1807 quarter eagles, the dies received their first injury while they were in service. The clash marks remained on the reverse die when it was switched from quarter eagle production to dime production. When that happened the first few dimes struck from the die pair had clash marks from the obverse of the 1807 quarter eagle.

Consignor Commentary. A fairly early die state with reverse clash marks from the quarter eagle obverse visible.

Provenance. Ex: Larry Whitlow (4/1996).
From The Ed Price Collection.(Registry values: P5) (#4480)

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