DIME 1837-1838 Liberty Seated, No Stars - More Details
The first Liberty Seated dime variety is also the first Dime produced with a true 90% silver versus 10% copper proportion. It is without obverse stars and closely parallels the half dime of the same era. Its mintage was also similar as pieces were struck only at the Philadelphia Mint in 1837 and only at the New Orleans Mint in 1838. Some 682,500 were struck at the former facility and 408,034 at the latter. The device consists of Miss Liberty seated on a rock, holding in her left hand a liberty cap on a pole, and holding a shield with her right. The date is below. The reverse displays an open wreath enclosing ONE DIME, with UNITED STATES OF AMERICA surrounding As attractive as this cameo-like motif is to collectors today, Mint officials did not consider it to be desirable, and it was discontinued shortly thereafter.
The type set enthusiast will find that examples of either issue are readily available in grades from Good through Very Fine or so, with the 1838-0 being a bit more expensive. Extremely Fine and AU coins are also encountered with regularity, less so for 1838-0