Learn About 52 Varieties of 1837-1891 Liberty Seated Dimes
Although Capped Bust Dimes were minted first in 1837, there was an impetus to change the design again. As with the Half Dime coinage, the task fell to Christian Gobrecht who was the Second Engraver of the United States Mint. He had worked for the US Mint as early as 1823, but it was a temporary position. Gobrecht finally became the Chief Engraver in 1840 and held the position until his death in 1844.
The design for the new dime was a duplicate of his new Half Dime and was similar to his pattern silver dollars of 1835 and 1836 (the Gobrecht Dollars) and was simple in its presentation. The obverse of the coin had Liberty, seated, facing left, holding a shield in one hand and a pole with a cap on the end of it in the other. The only distraction to that symbolism was the date below Miss Liberty. The reverse had the denomination “ONE DIME” in two lines, enclosed inside a wreath with “UNITED STATES OF AMERICA” around it.
The 1837 coin was minted in Philadelphia and 682,500 were struck. There were two varieties – a Small Date and a Large Date, neither of them is particularly more valuable than the other. The only other coin issued as a Variety One was an 1838-O struck in New Orleans, with 489,034 coins actually minted. It is a bit scarcer than either of the 1837 varieties.
In 1838 the Philadelphia Mint added 13 stars above and around Miss Liberty and this was continued through 1859. The New Orleans “O” mintmark appears above the bow on the reverse. In 1840, a fold of drapery was added from the right elbow on Miss Liberty. Coins were struck in Philadelphia and New Orleans and the design was unchanged until 1853.
1838 dated coins come in Large and Small stars varieties and a partial drapery variety. There were 1,992,500 1838-dated coins minted in Philadelphia. 1839 saw over 1 million coins struck both at Philadelphia and New Orleans and they are valued similarly. Philadelphia struck under 1 million coins in 1840 and New Orleans struck under 1.1 million coins with an “O” mintmark that same year. The same pattern was repeated in 1841 with Philadelphia over 1.6 million coins and New Orleans just over 2 million. In 1842 the main mint struck 1.9 million and the branch mint just over 2 million coins.
New Orleans struck only 150,000 coins in 1843, while Philadelphia struck nearly 1.4 million. In 1844 mintages dropped at both mints with Philadelphia striking 72,500 coins and New Orleans not striking any coins. In 1845, the Philadelphia Mint struck 1.7 million coins and the New Orleans branch struck only 230,000 “O” dimes. Between 1846 and 1848, coins were only struck in Philadelphia. 1846 was a very difficult year with only 31,300 minted making any dime dated 1846 very scarce in any grade. 1849 saw 839,000 coins struck and in New Orleans exactly 300,000 were struck that same year. In both 1850 and 1851 coins were struck at both mints and the mintages ranged from just under two million to a low of 400,000.
In 1852 over 1.5 million coins were struck in Philadelphia but only 430,000 in New Orleans. The 1853 Philadelphia coin has the lowest mintage with only 95,000 coins struck. Again, a new variety was about to be struck.
Later in the year 1853, arrows were placed on each side of the date to denote a reduction in the Silver weight of the coins. This continued from 1853 through 1855 and applied to coins minted both in Philadelphia and New Orleans, though no New Orleans coins were struck in 1855. 1853 from Philadelphia had the highest mintage at nearly 12.2 million coins while the 1853-O had the lowest mintage with 1.1 million coins struck.
From 1856 to 1860, at the Philadelphia, New Orleans and at the San Francisco mint in 1859 and 1860, the Variety Two coin was resumed, meaning the coins no longer displayed arrows at the date, but the reduced weight of Variety Three remained as the standard weight. Mintages varied from a high of 5.8 million to a low of only 60,000.
Variety Four coins were now redesigned by James B. Longacre and this style began in 1860 and ran until 1873. As one would expect with the outbreak of the Civil War in 1861, New Orleans coins bearing the “O” mintmark were struck in 1860 and that was the final year, with only 40,000 coins struck at our branch mint. Between 1861 and 1865, New Orleans was located deep in the heart of the Confederate States of America and New Orleans ceased to be a valuable branch mint for the United States. To pick up the slack and assist Philadelphia in coin production, coins were struck in San Francisco beginning in 1861 and running through 1872. 1871 to 1873 also had coins struck at the branch mint in Carson City, Nevada.
Variety Five coinage was continued for only two years – 1873 and 1874 at Philadelphia, San Francisco and Carson City. The 1873 and 1874 Carson City coins are rarities with 18,791 and 10,817 coins respectively for those two years.
Beginning in 1875 and running until the series ended in 1891, the Variety Four coins were once again resumed. There are even rarities in this last run of the series. 1879, 1880 and 1881 Philadelphia coins are all extremely low mintage rarities with 14,000, 36,000 and 24,000 coins respectively in those years. A later date – 1885-S – is also a rarity with 43,690 coins struck.
| Date | Type | Mintage | Fine Value | Unc Value |
| 1837 | Liberty Seated Dime – Ty 1 | 1,992,500 | $150 | $1,250 |
| 1838-O | Liberty Seated Dime – Ty 1 | 489,034 | $250 | $4,000 |
| 1838 – 1843 | Liberty Seated Dime – Ty 2 | 2,020,000 to 377,500 | $100 | $1,000 |
| 1843-O | Liberty Seated Dime – Ty 2 | 150,000 | $700 | $72,500 |
| 1844 | Liberty Seated Dime – Ty 2 | 72,500 | $400 | $10,000 |
| 1845 | Liberty Seated Dime – Ty 2 | 1,755,000 | $40 | $500 |
| 1845-O | Liberty Seated Dime – Ty 2 | 230,000 | $300 | $20,000 |
| 1846 | Liberty Seated Dime – Ty 2 | 31,300 | $750 | $40,000 |
| 1847 – 1852-O | Liberty Seated Dime – Ty 2 | 1,931,500 to 245,000 | $100 | $3,000 |
| 1853 No Arr | Liberty Seated Dime – Ty 2 | 95,000 | $400 | $1,250 |
| 1853 – 1855 Arrows | Liberty Seated Dime – Ty 3 | 12,173,000 to 1,100,000 | $85 | $2,000 |
| 1856 & 56-O | Liberty Seated Dime – Ty 2 | 5,780,000 to 1,180,000 | $100 | $1,500 |
| 1856-S | Liberty Seated Dime – Ty 2 | 70,000 | $750 | $12,500 |
| 1857 – 1860-S | Liberty Seated Dime – Ty 2 | 5,580,000 to 60,000 | $200 | $2,500 |
| 1860 | Liberty Seated Dime – Ty 4 | 606,000 | $25 | $250 |
| 1860-O | Liberty Seated Dime – Ty 4 | 40,000 | $1,600 | $25,000 |
| 1861, 1862, 1868, 1870, 1871, 1872, 1873 | Liberty Seated Dimes – Ty4 | 1,847,000 to 470,500 | $75 | $400 |
| 1861-S | Liberty Seated Dime – Ty 4 | 172,500 | $450 | $7,000 |
| 1862-S | Liberty Seated Dime – Ty 4 | 180,750 | $350 | $5,000 |
| 1863 | Liberty Seated Dime – Ty 4 | 14,000 | $1,000 | $2,000 |
| 1864 | Liberty Seated Dime – Ty 4 | 11,000 | $750 | $2,500 |
| 1865 | Liberty Seated Dime – Ty 4 | 10,000 | $900 | $2,300 |
| 1865-S | Liberty Seated Dime – Ty 4 | 175,000 | $400 | $17,500 |
| 1866 | Liberty Seated Dime – Ty 4 | 8,000 | $1,250 | $2,500 |
| 1866-S | Liberty Seated Dime – Ty 4 | 135,000 | $300 | $5,000 |
| 1867 | Liberty Seated Dime – Ty 4 | 6,000 | $1,000 | $2,500 |
| 1867-S | Liberty Seated Dime – Ty 4 | 140,000 | $300 | $5,000 |
| 1868-S | Liberty Seated Dime – Ty 4 | 260,000 | $200 | $1,250 |
| Date | Type | Mintage | Fine Value | Unc Value |
| 1869 | Liberty Seated Dime – Ty 4 | 256,000 | $50 | $1,000 |
| 1869-S | Liberty Seated Dime – Ty 4 | 450,000 | $30 | $600 |
| 1870-S | Liberty Seated Dime – Ty 4 | 50,000 | $600 | $3,000 |
| 1871-CC | Liberty Seated Dime – Ty 4 | 20,100 | $6,000 | $100,000 |
| 1871-S | Liberty Seated Dime – Ty 4 | 320,000 | $150 | $4,000 |
| 1872 DD Rev | Liberty Seated Dime – Ty 4 | Unknown | $400 | $3,000 |
| 1872-CC | Liberty Seated Dime – Ty 4 | 35,480 | $3,500 | $200,000 |
| 1873-CC | Liberty Seated Dime – Ty 4 | 1 – Unique | $500,000 | $3,000,000 |
| 1873 | Liberty Seated Dime – Ty 5 | 2,337,700 | $35 | $750 |
| 1873 DD Obv | Liberty Seated Dime – Ty 5 | Unknown | $1,250 | $22,500 |
| 1873-CC | Liberty Seated Dime – Ty 5 | 18,791 | $6,000 | $65,000 |
| 1873-S | Liberty Seated Dime – Ty 5 | 455,000 | $50 | $1,500 |
| 1874 | Liberty Seated Dime – Ty 5 | 2,940,000 | $40 | $750 |
| 1874-CC | Liberty Seated Dime – Ty 5 | 10,817 | $15,000 | $200,000 |
| 1874-S | Liberty Seated Dime – Ty 5 | 240,000 | $75 | $2,000 |
| 1878 to 1878 | Liberty Seated Dimes – Ty 4 | 11,460,000 to 1,677,200 | $75 | $750 |
| 1878-CC | Liberty Seated Dime – Ty 4 | 200,000 | $300 | $2,500 |
| 1879 | Liberty Seated Dime – Ty 4 | 14,000 | $350 | $700 |
| 1880 | Liberty Seated Dime – Ty 4 | 36,000 | $275 | $725 |
| 1881 | Liberty Seated Dime – Ty 4 | 24,000 | $275 | $800 |
| 1882 to 1885 | Liberty Seated Dimes – Ty 4 | 7,674,673 to 564,969 | $30 | $300 |
| 1885-S | Liberty Seated Dime – Ty 4 | 43,690 | $900 | $9,000 |
| 1886 to 1891-S | Liberty Seated Dimes – Ty 4 | 15,310,000 to 206,524 | $50 | $400 |
| 1891-O /Horizontal O | Liberty Seated Dime – Ty 4 | Unknown | $150 | $4,500 |
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