1820 STATESOF

The reverse of the 1820 STATESOF dime is older than the obverse it is paired with. After dime production stopped in 1814 and did not resume until 1820, a Philadelphia coiner pulled a still-serviceable reverse die from storage and married it to a fresh 1820 obverse. That reverse, originally cut with the letters STATES and OF set so tightly together that they appear to touch, had already produced the 1814 STATESOF variety listed as JR-5 in the John Reich Collectors Society reference (JR numbers identify obverse and reverse die pairings for Capped Bust silver coinage). Pressed into service a second time, it generated the issue now catalogued as JR-1 of 1820, making this one of the rare cases where a single working die spans a five-year production gap and two distinct calendar dates.

Authentication starts at the reverse legend. The closed gap between STATES and OF is the visible attribution point, but counterfeiters can fake spacing alone, so genuine examples must also match the exact letter-shoulder alignment shown in the PCGS CoinFacts (Professional Coin Grading Service) plate photos for 1820 JR-1. TPG (third-party grader) labels from PCGS and NGC (Numismatic Guaranty Company) attribute the variety as either STATESOF or STATESOFAMERICA, and either wording on a slab insert refers to the same die marriage. Weight should hit the 2.7-gram standard for the large-diameter 18.8mm planchet in .8924 fine silver, and surfaces examined under 10x loupe magnification should show clean reeding and crisp field, since cast counterfeits of early dimes typically betray themselves through grainy, pebbled texture that no struck coin displays.

Mintage for 1820 was 942,587 dimes across all die pairings, and the Mint kept no separate count for the STATESOF subset. JR-1 survival is estimated in the low hundreds across every grade, with the bulk concentrated in Good through Fine, and MS (Mint State) examples scarce enough that a single auction appearance can move the variety's price record. For collectors of die-marriage history, the 1820 STATESOF carries unusual weight because the reverse it shares with 1814 JR-5 is physical evidence of a working die surviving the War of 1812 production stoppage and returning to the coining press once Mint output resumed. For deeper context on John Reich's design and the full 1809 through 1837 run, see the Capped Bust Dime series history.