Collecting the Liberty Seated Dime series has been a personal passion and addiction for over twenty years. This beautiful United States denomination was minted from 1837 through 1891. During that time period, numerous economic and political changes swept across our expanding country. The United States experienced the Mexican-American conflict between 1846-1848 with the belief that America had the God given right to expand its borders from sea to shining sea. The realities of both the Civil War and the Western silver and gold rush impacted the design and mintage of the Liberty Seated Dimes. Across its 55 year life span, the series under went eight design changes, which were driven by either economic events or the goal of design alignment across United States silver denominations. Collecting and researching dimes from the early New Orleans, San Francisco and Carson City mints brings the history of the United States to life. One cannot forget the Philadelphia mint which consistently issued the Liberty Seated Dime denomination until the transition to the Barber design in 1892.

Die variety research of the Liberty Seated Dime series has been previously documented in two outstanding reference works and continued research can be found today in the ongoing published articles of the Liberty Seated Collector's Club. Kamal M. Ahwash published the "Encyclopedia of United States Liberty Seated Dimes" in 1977. This book documented the early research efforts of Kam Awhash and John McCloskey. They presented the numismatic community with the first detailed study of Seated Dime die varieties known at that time. The research of the Liberty Seated Dime series continued afterwards through the efforts of the Liberty Seated Collector's Club, formed in 1974, and its membership. New variety findings were documented in the club's Gobrecht Journal. In 1992, Brian Greer published "The Complete Guide to Liberty Seated Dimes". The incremental die variety discoveries beyond those documented by Kam Ahwash were presented, however Brian Greer's book included new insight into Liberty Seated Dime date and mintmark rarities by grade ranges. These rarity estimates proved to be most useful for collectors. The formulation of collecting goals became straightforward with the information found in Brian Greer's book.

I am now presenting a third Liberty Seated Dime book. This book summarizes the results of Liberty Seated Dime die variety studies and documentation since 1985. What started as an attempt to collect the series by date and mintmark soon turned into a challenge to identify unreported die varieties in the Gobrecht Journal. As the die varieties continued to be discovered, a systematic method for collecting this information was constructed using personal computer based software. A Liberty Seated Dime die variety database emerged through the use of Microsoft Excel. With a database in hand, the pursuit of Seated Dime varieties evolved into a project to identify and build an Extra Fine or better grade reference set of known obverse and reverse dies by date and, where possible, their die marriages. I anticipate that this effort will continue for many more years as new discoveries are constrained, only by the amount of Seated Dime coinage that can be inspected and compared to prior documentation.

The format of this book is heavily influenced by the best qualities of Ahwash's and Greer's efforts along with the need to develop a method for documenting hundreds of die varieties and major die diagnostic points. I have borrowed several of Kam Ahwash's die attribute measurement techniques and translated those tools through the use of modern digital imaging software. Brian Greer's rarity ratings and pricing histories are employed in the same fashion as presented in his book. Finally, the Al C. Overton methodology for die numbering found in "Early Half Dollar Die Varities 1794 - 1836" offered the best approach to label and catalogue the host of Seated Dime dies as they were being identified.

So how can a collector use this book to enjoy the challenges of the Liberty Seated Dime series? This book is designed to provide collecting strategies for both the novice and the most experienced numismatist. By level of challenge, the following collecting strategies are known to be employed today and are recommended for the reader's consideration;

1. A type collection of the eight major designs changes

2. A date collection, which is one example of each date in the 55 year series

3. A Redbook date and mintmark collection attempting to locate all of the required examples in a selected grade range

4. Variety collecting is the next logical progression and can take many forms,

• Major 100 Varieties, a collection of the 100 most significant Liberty Seated Dime varieties as defined by the author
• Major 200 Dates and Varieties, a date and mintmark collection that includes the challenging major die varieties
• A collection of repunched, or misplaced dates
• A collection of obverse and reverse dies within one date and/or mintmark

5. A collection of proof dates only, a rather significant challenge given the rarity of 1837 through 1855 proof examples

The effort to document all the identified Liberty Seated Dime die varieties in comprehensive detail has been a major undertaking. The amount of digital imaging required to properly illustrate the location of die markers has dictated a digital format, culminating with the web-book publishing approach. Since personal computers and web browsing have become common place in our American society, I have chosen the html programming language viewable through either Microsoft's Internet Explorer or Netscapes' Navigator as the basis for documenting and presenting the entire library of Seated Dime varieties. Images have been generated with a 36 bit scanner or with a Nikon CoolPix 995 digital camera and a stereo microscope. The images have received subsequent processing through commercial digital imaging processing software. Some images have been enhanced to remove scratches or marks on the plate coins for overall quality of the end product. Usage of links has been significant within the web-book. Being the book's best customer, I developed a product that allowed for rapid attribution of Seated Dime varieties featured at coin conventions, on dealer internet sites or eBay from my home or business personal computers. By incorporating the individual date denticle ruler tables and reverse die mintmark guides, variety attribution became much easier and less time consuming. I hope that readers will come to the same conclusion once they become familiar with this web-book.

This web-book remains a work in progress and the contents are the author's best effort to report years of findings in an organized fashion. Many die varieties wait to be discovered. Common dates will need many more years of research to uncover undocumented dies and die marriages. Some of the varieties in this book may be challenged or disputed, as individuals are motivated to re-investigate their collections as a result of the new information in this web-book. I hope that readers will understand that future revisions are very likely and will continue. Once again, the published information in this web-book is my current understanding of each date's die varieties at the time of publishing.

Finally, I encourage the current and future collectors of the Liberty Seated Dime series to closely examine their coins. There is a wealth of information about the practices and outcomes of the minting process available through the close examination of coins that we collect today. We should also remember that we are the curators of our collections and that many generations to come will be enjoying the coins that we shelter and preserve today.