1858-O

The 1858-O Seated Liberty dime is a Stars With Drapery issue, the next-to-last New Orleans dime delivered under that obverse design before the 1860 Legend transition pulled the stars off the face of the dime entirely. New Orleans produced 290,000 pieces for the year, a modest Gulf Coast output sandwiched between the 1.54 million Philadelphia dimes and the tiny 60,000-piece 1858-S. The figure looks small next to the New Orleans halves and quarters of the same calendar year, but Seated Liberty dime mintages at the branch ran consistently leaner than the larger silver denominations across the late 1850s. The coin carries the original 2.49-gram Arrows-era weight standard the Mint adopted in 1853, with the obverse stars positioned around a seated Liberty and the O mintmark tucked inside the wreath on the reverse.

Strike quality on the year shows the characteristic late-decade New Orleans pattern: respectable obverse rendering on the head and shield, with recurring softness on the wreath leaves and the lower obverse stars when working dies passed their prime. Most survivors fall in Good through Very Fine, the band where 1850s Seated dimes did the bulk of their commercial work before the Civil War pulled silver out of daily use. About Uncirculated examples need patience, and Mint State coins above MS62 sit firmly in condition-rarity territory, with the bulk of certified survival clustered in lower uncirculated grades. Authentication starts at the 2.49-gram weight on a 90-percent-silver planchet and the 17.9-millimeter reeded edge; counterfeit New Orleans dimes from this era are uncommon, but altered-mintmark pieces (an O added to a Philadelphia 1858) appear occasionally and miss the proper mintmark punch depth and lateral alignment seen on genuine examples. Greer documents the year's working die marriages, with date position relative to the rock and mintmark placement within the wreath serving as the standard attribution markers.

For a date-and-mint set builder, the 1858-O reads as a readily obtainable Stars With Drapery branch issue, an honest representative of the design subtype heading into its final two years. Circulated examples through Very Fine surface at moderate premiums over generic Seated dime type pricing, while problem-free Extremely Fine and About Uncirculated pieces deserve a closer look on eye appeal rather than a quick add. For the broader story of Gobrecht's design, the 1860 Stars-to-Legend obverse transition, and the series' production arc, see the Seated Liberty Dime series history.