1872

The 1872 Philadelphia dime delivered 2,396,450 pieces in the final full calendar year before the Coinage Act of February 12, 1873 nudged the dime's standard weight from 2.49 to 2.50 grams and brought the Arrows back to the date. That puts the issue at the tail end of the Legend No Motto, pre-Arrows configuration, where the obverse stars had been replaced by "UNITED STATES OF AMERICA" since 1860 and the wreath reverse continued without modification. Mintage held in the middle of the early-1870s Philadelphia range, well above the 1871 figure and meaningfully below the 1875 surge that followed the Specie Resumption-era expansion. The coin shipped on a 90 percent silver planchet at the post-1853 Arrows-era weight standard, which the Mint had used continuously for nineteen years by this point.

Strike on the 1872 reads as ordinary working Philadelphia output: head detail and the obverse legend usually come up sharp, with the wreath ribbon bow and the lower leaves running soft on later die states. Survival skews heavily to circulated grades, where the coin did its work through the post-Civil War decades when silver dimes returned to ordinary commerce after the Resumption Act of 1875 finally restored specie payments. Mint State examples exist in usable numbers but the supply thins markedly above MS-63, and pieces with full original cartwheel luster and clean fields trade at premiums that reflect that thinning. Authentication rests on the 2.49-gram weight, the 17.9-millimeter reeded edge, and the absence of arrows at the date; the next-year 1873 With Arrows issue shares the obverse legend but adds the small horizontal arrows flanking the date that mark the Coinage Act change.

The 1872 functions as the standard date-set fill for the year, the issue most collectors will pick up before tackling the 1872-CC Key Date and the 1872-S branch issue. Pricing tracks generic Seated dime levels through Extremely Fine, runs to modest premiums in About Uncirculated, and steps up in true uncirculated grades where condition rarity carries the price rather than mintage scarcity. The Regular classification matches how the market handles the date in worn-to-mid grades, with the upper Mint State range operating as a quiet condition challenge. For the broader story of Gobrecht's design, the 1873 Coinage Act, and the Carson City Mint, see the Seated Liberty Dime series history.