1831
CAPPED BUST DIME PCGS PROOF 66 CAC Click on Coin Image to
enlarge
1831
Capped Bust 10c PCGS PR66 CAC- $95,000.00
Tied
for the finest graded at PCGS. Including all varieties,
only 15 to 20 Proof Capped Bust Dimes of 1831 are
known. This eye-appealing, rare 1831 Proof Capped
Bust Dime. The luster and colors assure the coin’s
originality. The surfaces are clean for the grade
with virtually no visible hairlines, contact marks,
or other distractions. The strike is bold and full
in every detail as expected of a proof coin of this
quality. The CAC sticker indicates that it is a premium
quality piece that fully merits the assigned grade.
Please contact me by email
or telephone 1-941-291-2156
to reserve this great coin.
Designed by John Reich,
the Capped Bust dime shows Liberty in profile facing
left wearing a Phrygian cap with LIBERTY inscribed
on the headband. Ringlets of hair protrude from her
cap at the forehead and ear, and her curls fall to
the shoulders. A clasp just off the shoulder holds
the drapery, and the date is below the truncation.
Seven stars are to her left and six are to the right.
The reverse shows the heraldic eagle looking left
with wings raised. Above the eagle, on a banner, is
the motto E PLURIBUS UNUM. The required inscription
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA surrounds the coin, and the
denomination written as 10 C. is below.
John Reich, a skilled engraver, was
born in Bavaria and came to the United States around
1800. In order to finance his passage, he sold himself
into servitude. President Thomas Jefferson recommended
that Reich be hired as an engraver at the Mint in
1801. When he was serving in Washington’s Cabinet,
Jefferson was in charge of the Mint as Secretary of
State. While in France, Jefferson developed a working
knowledge of the minting process. Reich was hired
for other duties, but he eventually became an engraver.
He had a superb eye for the complicated aesthetics
of coin engraving. At this time his freedom was purchased
by an unknown mint official. Although Chief Engraver
Robert Scot designed most of the coins at the mint
since 1794, it was said that Reich had much more talent
and ability than Scot.
In 1807, Reich was promoted to the
position of Assistant or Second Engraver by Robert
Patterson, the new Mint Director. Jefferson had urged
Patterson to make this promotion because Scot’s
eyesight was failing him. The promotion was timely
because Reich was considering returning to Europe
out of boredom with the menial tasks he had been assigned.
Immediately Patterson assigned Reich the task of redesigning
the nation’s coinage. He began with the half
eagle and the half dollar, the two most important
coins for commerce.
Reich put the denomination of the
gold and silver coins. This innovation had not been
done previously because coins, especially in Europe,
were valued for their metallic content and weight.
By 1815 Reich had created a set of circulating coins
with the common capped liberty obverse. In 1813 Reich
modified the half eagle to become what is called the
Capped Head design. Some contemporary critic called
the bust of Liberty “Reich’s fat German
mistress.”
After working for ten years as Assistant Engraver
at the mint, Reich resigned in 1817. He had received
no pay raise or promotion and little praise from Robert
Scot. Scot remained the Chief Engraver until his death
in 1823.
The early Mint in Philadelphia had many challenges.
Conditions were poor even at times chaotic. Each of
the specialists, the designers, engravers, and press
operators were men who had previously worked in other
fields. Coin manufacturing was a new trade for them.
Production was sporadic. For the new Mint to coin
each of the mandated denominations, it took four years.
This delay was partly because of inexperience and
governmental obstacles. Bonds that were unrealistically
high were impediments to engravers working with precious
metals. Congress was not united on the need for a
government mint since private and foreign coinage
seemed to work. Because of the non-existent or low
production numbers in the early years of the Mint,
foreign copper, silver and gold circulated along with
American made coins for many years until they were
later demonetized.
Record keeping in the Mint’s early years was
fairly inaccurate. At the end of the eighteenth century
Philadelphia had recovered from the British occupation
and Revolutionary War. It was the second largest city
in the English-speaking world, but it could do nothing
to protect its citizens from the mosquito-borne epidemic
of yellow fever. Its wealthy citizens went to the
countryside to escape, and the poor grimly waited
their fate. Of course these annual epidemics caused
havoc with all manufacturing that required continuity,
such as a coinage sequence. The Mint shut operations
during the late summer and early fall every year.
In addition to yellow fever, disorder at the Mint
was also caused by chronic bullion shortages and coin
dies that would wear out and had to be re-engraved
because they were not taken out of production until
they failed completely. Often dies were locked up
and later taken out of storage without great attention
and care. There was also a jealous Chief Engraver,
Robert Scot, who was in his seventies and had failing
eyesight.
