Capped Bust Dimes (1809–1837)

John Reich, His Liberty, and What His Detractors Said About Her

When Mint Director Robert Patterson finally hired John Reich in April 1807, he was bringing in a talent the institution had missed for years. Reich, born in Fuerth, Bavaria, had arrived in America around 1800 as an indentured immigrant. He had applied for Mint employment as early as 1801 and been turned away, though someone at the institution recognized his abilities and quietly arranged to purchase his freedom. By 1807 Patterson gave him the opportunity he had been waiting for, and Reich set immediately to redesigning the silver coinage.¹

The result was the Capped Bust design: Liberty facing left, wearing a Phrygian cap with LIBERTY on its band, hair loosely flowing, her neckline and shoulders draped in classical fabric. The cap had ancient associations with freed slaves and was a well-established republican symbol in American iconography. Reich's adaptation for the silver denominations gave it a more refined, sculptural treatment. The design debuted on the half dollar in 1807 and reached the dime in 1809 after a gap year with no dime production. Reich's portrait drew its share of commentary. A story found in Mint archives of the 1860s, and later popularized by Don Taxay, held that the model had been Reich's "fat German mistress," a claim that has never been substantiated. The obverse of the Capped Bust dime is a competent and dignified piece of die cutting, consistent with the neoclassical aesthetic of the era.²

Reich resigned from the Mint on March 31, 1817, exactly ten years after beginning employment, having grown tired of working for a salary he considered inadequate. His design continued in production without him for another two decades, maintained first by Robert Scot and then by William Kneass, who took over as Chief Engraver following Scot's death in 1823.

The First Dime to Name Its Own Value

The obverse of the Capped Bust dime carries thirteen six-pointed stars around the periphery, seven to the left and six to the right, with the date below. LIBERTY appears on the cap's band. The reverse shows an eagle with head turned left and wings partially raised, clutching an olive branch in one claw and three arrows in the other. A Union Shield covers the eagle's breast. E PLURIBUS UNUM on a scroll above the eagle, UNITED STATES OF AMERICA around the perimeter, and the denomination 10 C. below complete the reverse. That 10 C. inscription was a significant departure from the Draped Bust dimes, which had carried no denomination at all. The Capped Bust dime was the first in the denomination to tell its holder directly what it was worth.³

The edge of the Large Type coins is reeded. The reeding was applied by a separate process before the coin was struck between the obverse and reverse dies. In 1828, when William Kneass introduced close collar technology at the Mint, the reeding came from the collar itself, impressed during the same strike that formed both faces.

Two Subtypes and the "Large" and "Small" Distinction

The standard presentation divides the Capped Bust dime series in 1828, with coins through the 1828 Large Date called the Large Type and coins from the 1828 Small Date onward called the Small Type. The Large and Small names are traditional but, as Davis, Logan, Lovejoy, McCloskey, and Subjack's Early United States Dimes 1796-1837 carefully notes, not precisely accurate as a diameter description. The actual diameters do not divide cleanly at 1828; they decrease gradually from 1827 through 1832 and then increase again from 1834 through 1837. The meaningful distinction between the two subtypes is not diameter but striking method: the Large Type coins were struck in an open or loosely restrained collar with the edge reeding applied separately; the Small Type coins were struck in a close collar that imparted reeding during the main strike and produced more uniform dimensions and sharper borders. Both the Large Date and Small Date varieties of 1828 are closed-collar pieces, contrary to older accounts that suggested the Large Date 1828 was an open-collar coin, so the 1828 Large Date belongs to the Large Type by catalogue convention rather than by striking method.⁴

Production Gaps and the Irregular Mintage Pattern

Capped Bust dime production was intermittent throughout the Large Type years. No dimes were struck bearing the dates 1808, 1810, 1812, 1813, 1815, 1816, 1817, 1818, 1819, or 1826. The available Large Type dates are 1809, 1811, 1814, 1820, 1821, 1822, 1823, 1824, 1825, 1827, and 1828. The Small Type opened with the 1828 Small Date and was then struck every year from 1829 through 1837. Counting all struck calendar years across both types, the complete date set spans exactly twenty distinct years. Mintages varied substantially: the 1820, 1821, and 1827 dates had production in the hundreds of thousands to over a million, while the 1809, 1811, and 1822 are low.⁵

The 1822: Series Key

The 1822 Capped Bust dime is the rarest date in the series by certified population. Its official mintage of approximately 100,000 pieces is the third lowest in the Large Type, after the 1809 and 1811. All known 1822 dimes were struck from a single die pair (catalogued as JR-1), providing a useful authenticity diagnostic. Circulated examples command meaningful premiums over other dates at equivalent grades; in Mint State the gap widens dramatically. Only a handful of uncirculated examples are known, distributed across grades from Mint State 62 through Mint State 66; the finest certified are Mint State 66 coins, among them the PCGS example from the D. Brent Pogue collection. Despite outnumbering the 1809 and 1811 at the Mint, the 1822 consistently shows the smaller certified population, a function of differential survival rates that no mintage figure fully predicts.⁶

The 1829 Curl Base 2: The Rarest 1829 Variety

While the 1822 is the scarcest date, the variety that rivals it is the 1829 Curl Base 2, catalogued as JR-10, the scarcest of the twelve known die marriages of 1829. On this variety, the numeral 2 in the date carries a distinctive curling base rather than the square base found on all other 1829 varieties. It was discovered by John McCloskey in 1973; subsequent searching has brought the known population to approximately 40 to 75 examples across all grades, with the finest known piece certified Very Fine 35. It does not appear to exist in Mint State or even Extremely Fine.⁷

This variety is distinct from the 1828 Large Date, which also has a curl-base 2 in its date. The two should not be confused: the 1828 Large Date Curl Base 2 is a variety of the 1828 coin, while the 1829 JR-10 Curl Base 2 is an entirely separate die marriage of the 1829 date. The 1829 JR-10 is the scarcer of the two and the more daunting single acquisition in a complete variety set.

One Error Die, Two Calendar Years: STATESOFAMERICA, Overdates, and Size Variations

Die preparation at the early Mint left behind a long list of varieties. Overdates are common: the 1811/09, 1823/2, 1824/2, and 1830/29 are among the better-documented, though the rarity of individual overdate die marriages varies widely. The 1811/09, in which the 11 was punched over the 09 of a previous year's die, is the only form of the 1811 dime, so it carries no overdate premium, and it is priced below the 1809 in most grades.

The STATESOFAMERICA error affected 1814 and 1820 dimes, where the same reverse die was used in both years where the words STATES and OF run together without adequate spacing. The die produced this characteristic on both dates, providing a documented case of multi-year die reuse. The 1820 STATESOFAMERICA was rated Rarity-4 in the specialist reference, making it among the more difficult 1820 varieties to locate in Very Fine or better condition.

Size variations in the denomination 10 C. appear on the 1829 and other Small Type dates. Date size varieties, letter size variants in the reverse legend, and differing punch characteristics in the stars all contribute to a die-variety catalogue in which a single year can hold a dozen or more die marriages: thirteen for 1820 and twelve for 1829.⁸

Open Collar Left It Variable; Close Collar Fixed Most of That

The Large Type Capped Bust dimes, struck with open collars and edge reeding applied separately, show more variability in rim sharpness and border definition than the Small Type coins struck with the close collar from 1828 onward. The close collar process constrained metal flow, sharpened the borders, and produced more consistent diameter and weight. Neither subtype is problem-free: weakness at the eagle's breast feathers and at Liberty's hair above the ear appears on both, and adjustment marks remain a feature of coins from the early years of the Large Type.

Proofs exist for some dates in the series, particularly in the later Large Type years (1820 and after) and across the Small Type, though these are rare and expensive at any grade. The distinction between a Proof and a sharply struck business strike from fresh dies can be genuinely difficult to make for early Capped Bust coinage, and any coin presented as a Proof should carry certification from PCGS or NGC before a premium is paid for that designation.

Building the Set

The type set approach requires either one or two coins: a single Capped Bust dime if the collector treats the series as a unified type, or one Large Type and one Small Type if distinguishing between the two subtypes. The common 1820, 1821, or 1827 dates for the Large Type and any common date from the 1830s for the Small Type are readily available in Very Good through Very Fine at prices that reflect historical significance without demanding full key-date premiums. A complete date set covering every struck year involves exactly twenty different calendar-year combinations, with the 1822 as the primary financial obstacle and the 1809 and 1811 as the secondary challenges. A complete variety set, following the Davis et al. specialist reference, is a far more ambitious undertaking.

Authentication is important throughout the series. Early dimes have been altered and repaired, and problem coins are common. PCGS and NGC certification is recommended for any purchase above a modest price. The definitive specialist reference remains Davis, Logan, Lovejoy, McCloskey, and Subjack's Early United States Dimes 1796–1837, published by the John Reich Collectors Society in 1984, which provides the die variety attributions and rarity estimates that serious collectors use as their standard.