1814 Small Date

The 1814 Small Date Capped Bust dime is the scarcer of the two date-size varieties struck that year at the Philadelphia Mint, separated from its Large Date counterpart by smaller and more tightly compressed numeral punches. Collectors identify it through a single obverse-reverse pairing cataloged by the John Reich Collectors Society as JR-1, meaning one die marriage (one specific obverse die paired with one specific reverse die) accounts for the entire Small Date production. The diagnostic centers on the digit 8, which on the Small Date sits roughly level with the flanking 1s rather than rising above them as it does on the Large Date. The 421,500-piece mintage figure that appears in most references covers the combined 1814 output across all date-size varieties and the STATESOF reverse die-break anomaly, so the Small Date share is meaningfully smaller than that headline number suggests. Production followed a two-year gap in which no dimes were struck for circulation dated 1812 or 1813, which adds context for why 1814 examples surface so often in early federal type sets.

Authentication of an 1814 Small Date rests on three checkpoints that a collector can apply before any premium changes hands. Weight should land at 2.7 grams on a calibrated jeweler's scale, consistent with the .8924 fine silver alloy that the Mint Act of 1792 prescribed for dimes of this period, and any specimen falling materially below standard warrants suspicion of a cast or struck counterfeit. Surface texture under 10x magnification should show crisp metal flow lines radiating from the rims; a grainy or pebbled field is the signature of a cast fake. The date-size measurement is the variety's primary diagnostic, so compare digit height directly against published JR-1 die plates from John Reich Journal references and confirm that the 8 does not tower over the 1s. Slabs from the Professional Coin Grading Service (PCGS) or Numismatic Guaranty Company (NGC), the two leading third-party grading services (TPGs), will carry the JR-1 attribution on the label when graded by a specialist, which removes guesswork at the buying counter.

Survivorship of the Small Date runs into the low thousands across all preservation levels, with circulated grades from Good through Extremely Fine forming the bulk of the population and Mint State (uncirculated) examples drawing specialist attention at major auctions. Strike quality on JR-1 ranges from soft on the centering stars to sharp on the eagle's shield, and original gray patina commands premiums over dipped or cleaned surfaces in the marketplace. For the broader context behind the John Reich design, the 18.8mm large-type planchet introduced in 1809, and the production interruptions that shaped this date's place in the run, see the Capped Bust Dime series history.