1838 Large Stars

The 1838 Large Stars dime opens the Stars subtype of the Seated Liberty design and accounts for the largest share of the year's combined Philadelphia delivery of approximately 1,992,500 pieces. Mint engravers added 13 stars around Liberty during 1838, a deliberate retreat from Christian Gobrecht's spare 1837 No Stars composition and a return to the conventional star border collectors had seen on Capped Bust silver. Within that opening Stars year the Mint produced two distinct star sizes plus a transitional Partial Drapery die. Large Stars is the standard, most plentiful version; the stars sit larger and bolder, with thicker rays and more space-eating presence around the rim. There is still no drapery at Liberty's elbow. That detail will not arrive until mid-1840, when Robert Ball Hughes modifies the hub.

Strike on the Large Stars 1838 is reliably better than the 1837 No Stars work that preceded it. The Mint had a year of seated-dime production under its belt, the dies were better balanced, and the broader Star design eased some of the metal-flow stress that plagued the open-field No Stars layout. Authentication centers on three diagnostics. The first is star size itself, since the Small Stars subtype carries notably smaller, thinner star punches and trades at a meaningful premium. The second is the elbow, which must show no drapery folds; a coin with partial fabric there belongs to the Partial Drapery variety. The third is the 2.67 g weight standard, the same pre-Arrows specification used since 1837. PCGS, the Professional Coin Grading Service, and NGC, the Numismatic Guaranty Company, attribute Large Stars as the default Stars subtype.

For a collector, Large Stars is the practical Stars No Drapery type-set entry. Circulated examples in problem-free Fine through Extremely Fine are readily available and rarely require waiting; AU coins demand patience but appear at auction often enough that timing matters more than budget. Mint State coins reward attention to strike quality on the head and shield over the grade number on the holder, since softness on those points drags eye appeal across all sub-MS65 grades. The Regular classification on the site reflects that availability accurately, and most date-set builders treat this issue as their default 1838 choice. For the broader story of Gobrecht's design, the No Stars to Stars to Drapery transitions, and the series' production arc, see the Seated Liberty Dime series history.