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Liberty Seated Dimes - Individual Dates and Mintmarks
Obverse & Reverse Die Variety Gallery with Rarity Ratings
The Obverse & Reverse Die Gallery presents a complete Liberty Seated Dime Varieties reference set. Since 1987, this varieties reference set has been continually upgradied to capture new date obverse and reverse dies, die marriages and die states. The set is illustrated by individual dates and mintmarks. As of August 2013, the Gallery is being re-formatted and includes the individual rarity ratings for each variety.
Simply scoll down and click on the desired date or mintmark to view its Gallery. Once in a date's Gallery, click on any of the obverse or reverse images to access that varieties' description contained with the web-book database.
Users may find the Gallery to be the fastest way to attribute Seated dime varieties and determine a rarity rating. First identify the Denticle Ruler measurement for the obverse, then scroll down to view the potential matching varieties. If there may be a potential match with a set obverse/reverse images, then click on those images to view the detailed variety page with its macro images and key diagnostics points.
No Stars Obverse
1837 Large and Small Date, 1838-O
Stars Obverse - No Drapery
1838, 1839, 1839-O, 1840, 1840-O
Stars Obverse - With Drapery
1840, 1841, 1841-O, 1842, 1842-O, 1843, 1843-O, 1844, 1845, 1845-O
1846, 1847, 1848, 1849, 1849-O, 1850, 1850-O, 1851, 1851-O, 1852, 1852-O, 1853 No Arrows
Stars Obverse - Arrows at Date
1853 With Arrows, 1853 Hubbed Arrow & Date, 1853-O With Arrows, 1854 With Arrows, 1854-O With Arrows, 1855 With Arrows
Stars Obverse - With Drapery Resumed
1856 Large Date, 1856 Small Date, 1856-O, 1856-S, 1857, 1857-O, 1858, 1858-O, 1858-S, 1859, 1859-O, 1859-S, 1860-S
Transitional Pattern
Legend Obverse
1860, 1860-O, 1861, 1861-S, 1862, 1862-S, 1863, 1863-S, 1864, 1864-S, 1865, 1865-S,
1866, 1866-S, 1867, 1867-S, 1868, 1868-S, 1869, 1869-S, 1870, 1870-S,
1871, 1871-S, 1871-CC, 1872, 1872-S, 1872-CC, 1873 Closed 3, 1873 Open 3,
Legend Obverse - Arrows at Date
1873 With Arrows, 1873-S With Arrows, 1873-CC With Arrows, 1874 With Arrows, 1874-S With Arrows, 1874-CC With Arrows
Legend Obverse Resumed
1875, 1875-S In Wreath, 1875-S Below Wreath, 1875-CC In Wreath, 1875-CC Below Wreath
1876, 1876-S, 1876-CC, 1877, 1877-S, 1877-CC, 1878, 1878-CC, 1879, 1880, 1881, 1882
1883, 1884, 1884-S, 1885, 1885-S, 1886, 1886-S, 1887, 1887-S, 1888, 1888-S
1889, 1889-S, 1890, 1890-S, 1891, 1891-O, 1891-S
Denticle Ruler attribution tables are available as part of the gallery guide. For each date and mintmark in the Gallery, the Denticle Ruler (DR) table is a header for the file. The DR table is an easy to use sighting method for determining the difference between obverse dies and facilitates within date obverse die variety attribution.
The Denticle Ruler uses Liberty's shield as a reference point. A vertical line is sighted from the lower point of the shield to a denticle directly below the lower shield point. This denticle acts as the point of reference for date position measurements and is assigned a numbered 0 position. The denticle to the immediate right of the #0 denticle is numbered 1. The next denticle to the right of the #1 denticle is numbered 2 and so on. The denticle to the immediate left of the #0 denticle is numbered -1. The next denticle to the left of the #-1 denticle is numbered -2 and so on. These numbered denticles act as a measurement ruler for determining date placement. In order to increase measurement resolution, each denticle is subdivided into three equal parts labeled left (L), center (C) and right (R). An example of a typical subset of denticle ruler measurement points for a numbered 0 denticle, from left to right, would be 0L, 0C, 0R. The final step to complete the denticle ruler is defining points between any two denticles. The point directly between two numbered denticles is designated as a point between (B) a left and right numbered denticle. The point between numbered 0 and 1denticles is designated 0B1. A denticle ruler measurement subset from the numbered -1 denticle through numbered 1 denticle would be named as:
-1L, -1C, -1R, -1B0, 0L, 0C, 0R, 0B1, 1L, 1C, 1R
The following images present visual examples of the denticle ruler measurement system for No Drapery and Drapery obverse hub designs.
To determine the denticle ruler position of a date, the placement of the outer end of the left foot of the 1 in the date is compared to the denticle directly below it. A measurement of the date position is then taken from the denticle ruler numbering system illustrated above. Examples of denticle ruler measurements are presented for No Drapery and Drapery obverses in the following images.