Prooflike 1802 JR-4 Dime
The Only Mint State Example with CAC Approval Ex Pittman, Gardner
1802 Draped Bust Dime. JR-4. Rarity-4. MS-62 (PCGS). CAC.
This amazing example has fully prooflike obverse and reverse fields with lustrous, satiny devices. An attractive cameo example with exceptional eye appeal. There are a few light surface marks and trivial scratches that explain the grade, a vertical scuff in the right obverse field before Liberty's mouth the most useful provenance marker. The obverse is quite well struck with otherwise sharp central and peripheral definition that wanes just a bit within the hair curls at Liberty's ear. The reverse exhibits considerable central weakness, although it is boldly defined elsewhere, to include full border details. A dusting of pale sandy-silver iridescence yields to brilliance as the surfaces dip into a light. Of the four known die marriages of this issue, JR-4 is the most frequently encountered in numismatic circles. The date as a whole is scarce, however, Mint records accounting for a delivery of just 10,975 dimes during calendar year 1802. Winston Zack, Louis Scuderi and Michael Sherrill (2015) estimate only 175 to 225 survivors in all grades (all die marriages), the vast majority of which are well worn. In 1982, the authors of the John Reich dime book, Early United States Dimes, noted that JR-4 was the only variety among four die marriages that exists in full Mint State condition, and that "not more than three specimens exist in MS-60 or better grade." The advent of third-party certification by PCGS and NGC has allowed for a clearer picture of this issue's condition rarity and, today, we know that the very top of Condition Census for the 1802 dime is comprised of three coins: 1 - JR-4. PCGS MS-62. CAC. Ex Numismatic Gallery, December 4, 1947, privately to the following; David W. Akers' sale of the John Jay Pittman, Part I, October 1997, lot 539; later, our (Bowers and Merena) Rarities Sale of September 2002, lot 193; Eugene H. Gardner; Heritage's sale of the Eugene H. Gardner Collection, Part III, May 2015, lot 98206; Legend Rare Coin Auctions' Regency Auction 47, September 2021, lot 232. The present example . 2 - JR-4. PCGS MS-62. Ex Numismatic Gallery's (Abe Kosoff and Abner Kreisberg) sale of the Adolphe Menjou Collection (actually the Charles Williams Collection), June 1950, lot 154; Harold Bareford; our (Stack's) sale of the Harold Bareford Collection of United States and English Coins, October 1981, lot 145; Allen F. Lovejoy; our (Stack's) sale of the Allen F. Lovejoy Collection, October 1990, lot 21; our (Stack's) Americana Sale of January 2002, lot 1141; Ed Price; Heritage's sale of the Ed Price Collection, July-August 2008 Baltimore ANA Signature Auction, lot 1434; D. Brent Pogue Collection; our sale of the D. Brent Pogue Collection, Part I, May 2015, lot 1043. 3 - JR-2. PCGS MS-62. Ex Heritage's Long Beach Signature Auction of September 2013, lot 6307; Heritage's Summer FUN Signature Auction of July 2014, lot 3668. We suspect that the fourth grading event for an MS-62 listed in the PCGS Population Report is actually a second appearance of the Pogue specimen, likely before it was sold to Ed Price.
PCGS# 4472. NGC ID: 236K.
PCGS Population (all die marriages of the issue): 4; 0 finer. CAC Stickered Population: 1; 0.
From the Srotag Collection. Earlier from Numismatic Gallery, December 4, 1947, privately to the following; David W. Akers' sale of the John Jay Pittman, Part I, October 1997, lot 539; later, our (Bowers and Merena) Rarities Sale of September 2002, lot 193; Eugene H. Gardner; Heritage's sale of the Eugene H. Gardner Collection, Part III, May 2015, lot 98206; Legend Rare Coin Auctions' Regency Auction 47, September 2021, lot 232.