Very light scratches on Liberty's cheek. Deeply and attractively toned with delicate blue and amber over satiny lustre. Sharp central designs and full borders with slight peripheral weakness. This is from the same reverse die as the 1814 JR-5 variety, above. Not only is this a scarce die marriage, but is in additional demand as a Guide Book variety. An elusive issue in higher grades. Only one finer example is recorded in the 1996 Dime Census. Described as "AU-50" in the Norweb catalogue.
This date is the first of five different years to have 10 or more die varieties (the others are 1821, 1827, 1829, and 1833). Dimes produced in 1820 were from eight obverse and nine reverse dies used in combination for 13 different varieties. The recorded mintage for the year was 942,587 coins.
This obverse die was later used for JR-4. The reverse die was left over from the coinage dated 1814 and was used with JR-5.
Faint obverse clash marks and a light bulge through stars 2, 3, and 4. Extremely faint reverse clash marks.
From our sale of the Norweb Collection, Lot 414. Earlier from Aubrey Bebee on March 11, 1953.