1874-CC Arrows Dime CC Coin of the Week 5/2/2010

Excluding its predecessor, the uncollectable 1873-CC No Arrows dime, the 1874-CC Arrows dime is the unquestioned key to a collection of Carson City, Liberty Seated dimes. Furthermore, this illusive date is the also the key to the entire Liberty Seated dime series, with its older, fraternal brother CC dimes leading the rest of the pack.

Every dime minted in 1874 was struck with an arrow on either side of the date, ostensibly to notify the public of the weight change brought about by the Coinage Act of 1873. Designed by Chief Engraver, William Barber, the arrows impressed on the dimes minted in 1873 were level, whereas the arrows on all 1874 dimes are tilted slightly upward. The arrows were done away with in 1875 for reasons this writer has not been able to confirm.

The 1874-CC Arrows dime is a member of the sixth and final type of dime struck within the Seated Liberty Series. All 1873 and 1874 "Arrows Type" dimes are actually a subset of the "Cereal Wreath" style, designed by James B. Longacre in 1860. More commonly known as the "Legend" design, this was the final major change to occur in the Liberty Seated dime series. The style remained the same for the next thirty one years when the Liberty seated design was changed on all dimes, quarters and half dollars to the Barber Design in 1892.

A mere 10,817, dimes were minted in Carson City in 1874 all of which entered service as part of the economy of the American west. These dimes, as well as all small denomination coins minted previously in Carson City, were sorely needed for daily trade and commerce. It's safe to say these tiny bits of silver and copper didn't spend much time in bank bags with nothing to do but dent and scratch their buddies. The fact that no quarters were produced at Carson City in 1874 either, placed an even greater work load on these dimes. In this writer's opinion, this long-term, yeoman service was the chief reason why most 1874-CC Arrows dimes (and most other silver Carson City issues of this era) are found in very worn condition.

Walter Breen suggested in his landmark publication of 1987 "Walter Breen's Complete Encyclopedia of US and Colonial Coins" that possibly only 6 or 8 examples of the 1874-CC Arrows dime were known to exist. Amazingly, this estimate was made only 23 years ago! Today, survival estimates range from less than 1/2% all the way to 1% of the original 10,817 coins minted. PCGS has certified 34 dimes of this date while NGC has certified a meager count of 9. Surprisingly, ANACS lists a whopping 49 certifications of the 1874-CC Arrows dime. However, research done in preparation of this article leads the author to believe that most of the 49 examples certified by ANACS are damaged or otherwise un-gradable at the "BIG TWO". Due to the high value of the 1874-CC Arrows dime, it's reasonable to assume that many (if not most) of the ANACS certified, 1874-CC Arrows dimes without problems have long since been moved over to NGC or PCGS holders to further validate their worth.

Of the 43 coins in total certified by PCGS and NGC, only 4 were determined to be mint state. Rusty Goe points out in "The Mint On Carson Street" that 2 of these are the same coin, thus reducing the certified mint state examples to a paltry 3 coins. The balance of certified 1874-CC Arrows dimes are found primarily between FR-2 and XF-45 with a tiny smattering of AU graded coins. Of these, NGC has graded three AU-50 and one, AU-53. PCGS has awarded only one coin, pictured below, with an Almost Uncirculated designation. This coin, graded AU-55, is the fourth finest certified 1874-CC Arrows dime known*. The author is proud to report that this coin resides in his Rian's Bequeath Collection of Carson City minted coins.

Unfortunately, the photograph does not do the coin justice. In person, the coin displays lustrous, frosted highlights but these are difficult to capture without tilting the coin against a good light source.

Prior to its acquisition, this particular coin was unknown to the US census. The coin was discovered in Europe in 2009 and brought back to the United States for certification and sale through a Stacks auction. As you can imagine, there was a lot of interest in this coin. In fact, the bidding pressure pushed the final hammer price up to $97,950, exceeded the authors price target by more than $20,000.

Regardless of grade or cost, every coin targeted for inclusion in the Rian's Bequeath Collection of Carson City minted coins has been carefully selected with the invaluable advice and counsel of Rusty Goe. Had that not been the case with this coin as well, the competition may have acquired the coin instead of the author due to the higher than budgeted hammer price. Today, I groan inwardly at the thought that, if not for Rusty's understanding of the true, long term value of this key date, I probably would have let it go due to the additional cost. Had that occurred, I would have kicked myself forever!

Now that I have had the opportunity to study this very special coin at leisure over the last sixteen months, I have a much greater appreciation of its incredible rarity and strong value. As a matter of fact, I believe the subject 1874-CC AU-55 PCGS - CAC Arrows dime is actually one of the best bargains in my entire collection. A person might even argue this date could still be well undervalued! Consider the following;

1874-CC Arrows Dime Facts: There are only 43 certified examples of this date. Within that number, there are only 8 (approx 20%) high-grade examples known when including only AU and MS graded coins. Aside from a few XF graded coins, most of the remainder are in VF condition and below. Recent auction records indicate certified XF examples of the 1874-CC Arrows dime will bring at least $40,000 while a recent 2009 sale of an MS-62 piece recorded a hammer price of $126,500.

1870-CC $20 Facts: There are only 56 certified examples of this super expensive, Carson City minted Double Eagle. Most of these are certified above XF-40 with a single AU-55 the finest. Any decent XF example of the 1870-CC Double Eagle is likely to bring $275,000 to $300,000 while an AU graded piece may cost $400,000 or more.

The PCGS estimation of 80 examples extant in all grades is identical for both of these key coins. Excluding damaged or un-gradable coins, there are fewer known certified examples in total of the 1874-CC Arrows dime than exist for the 1870-CC Double Eagle. Perhaps of greater importance, the top 20% of the 1874-CC Arrows dimes extant are conditionally much more rare than the foremost group of 1870-CC Double Eagles. Should not this statistic serve to close the value gap?

My postulation of the undervalued nature of the 1874-CC Arrows dime is also supported by the record of sale prices over the long term view. Certainly, the recession has caused a modest decline in sale prices for a few coins sold over the last couple of years. However, a five year study of value records demonstrates that anyone owning this coin enjoyed smashing success. Including the modest, near-term price decline mentioned above, the very least five-year value increase for the 1874-CC arrows dime was 70% in the VF range. Most other certified examples of this date experienced a 100% or more net value increase. Topping the record books with an amazing 400% increase in value, the lowly G-4 graded 1874-CC Arrows dime proved to be the best investment of all.

The subject coin enjoys an excellent strike overall with the most obvious exception being Ms Liberty's head and hair details. Less apparent is the reduced sharpness of the "N" in ONE, as well as the "I" and "M" in DIME on the reverse. The porous nature of the surfaces found on many Carson City dimes is easily found on this example too. But with this particular coin, there is an interesting twist. The areas showing the greatest degree of brightly attractive "frost" are also the most porous surfaces of the coin! That being said, there is not as much surface area affected by rusted and corroded dies as has been noted on other examples of this date, photographs of which were recently studied.

There is speculation of a "Broken S" variety existing for the 1874-CC Arrows dime. On page 226 of "The Mint on Carson Street", Rusty Goe credits Kam Ahwash with describing a few examples of this "Broken S" variety. The break is found at the top serif stem of the first S in STATES. However, this observer
believes the "Broken S" is not a variety at all.

Instead, it's more likely that this condition is found on every 1874-CC Arrows dime, but with a more or less serif separation depending on when the coin was struck. A coin that shows a mostly intact "S" is probably a coin struck at a very early stage in the life of the working obverse die. As the die degraded over time, the link between the serif and the main body of the "S" became more and more degraded, eventually resulting in a fully separated serif.

In preparation for writing this article, the author examined photographs of 26 examples of the 1874-CC Arrows dime. Excepting a few coins which were too worn to clearly see the S, every single coin examined had the broken top serif in the first S in STATES. Careful observation of blown up photographs show a thin line connecting the main body of the S with the detached serif. In some examples, this connection is easily seen while in others, this connection is visible only with higher magnification. Even though only a few Carson city minted dimes from years prior to 1874 were examined, they consistently showed the same broken serif.

Further investigation of 1871, 1872, 1873 and 1874 dimes minted in Philadelphia and in San Francisco showed the exact same broken serif in the first S in STATES. Only about two dozen examples of non-Carson City, 1874 Arrows dimes were studied, but in every case, these dimes showed the same serif separation. Additionally, three examples of the 1874 Arrows proof dime were also studied. Amazingly, the broken serif was found on all three!

It is the author's conclusion that working obverse dies made for all three mints were made from the same, flawed master hub. The working dies struck from this master hub carried this flaw into production at all three mints. The faulty portion of these working dies quickly began to degrade thus producing an ever expanding serif separation.

An interesting side note is that most letters in STATES were doubled on all of the Philadelphia and San Francisco minted dimes studied, including the proof examples. None of the Carson City minted 1874 Arrows dimes examined showed doubling of any of the letters in the legend.

The CC mint mark on all 1874 dimes is small and the letters are close together. A diagnostic crack angles through the CC mint mark (see below) on all 1873-CC and 1874-CC dimes.


All 1872, 1873 and 1874 Carson City minted dimes were struck from the same reverse die. It follows that after minting over 77,000 coins (including the 12,400 no arrows dimes, with all but one subsequently melted) this crack increased in size due to the sustained use. Curving upward and to the right through stems and oak leaves, this die crack can be seen exiting at the top of the corn, just above 3:00 o'clock on late state 1874-CC dimes, such as the subject coin. A close look at the this section of the 1874-CC AU-55 PCGS Arrows dime clearly shows the die crack continuing upward from the corn all the way to the rim. I have marked the below photo where the crack emerges from the corn and again at its termination point near the rim of the coin.

There are as many details to find and examine with this important date as one has time to explore. The coin exampled here has provided us with just a few of these topics to consider. Many others, have been left untouched considering the time and space set aside for this brief article.

Having returned in 2009 from a century long sabbatical in the south of France, the subject 1874-CC AU-55 Arrows dime still holds many mysteries. For instance, how in the world did a tiny coin from Carson City, Nevada find its way into a collector's cabinet in France? Was the voyage made in the pocket of a foreign statesman, a mining engineer, or perhaps an investor checking out the prospects offered by the owners of the silver and gold mines of the Comstock? Despite the continued refusal by Stacks officials to share any of this coin's pedigree with me (I guess that cost extra), you can bet that I will continue to pursue the coin's history. I will gladly share any knowledge gained about this coin with my C4OA friends when and if, its history is ever revealed.

The 1874-CC Arrows dime is the key to the entire Liberty Seated dime series and a treasure for a CC enthusiast to own in any grade. I am undyingly grateful for the opportunity afforded me to bring this important coin into my collection. Rian, my 5 year old granddaughter and the future owner of this dime, already loves the coin ... if only because it's shiny and has little pictures on it. Oh well, even Eliasberg had to start somewhere!

Belay Off


* The Nevada State Museum's example is probably uncirculated, though the coin has not yet been officially graded and certified. Additionally, auction records show that a few other uncirculated coins have popped up over the years. One or more of these coins might yet enter the census of certified coins.

What a description of this coin! Unfortunately I cannot add any new information since I have not seen one of these dimes in any condition.

You shoud submit this article to The Numismatist, the publication of ANA. It is of that caliber. Nice research.

John Armonas

That was well worth waiting for, Belay. I hope you submit this article to Curry's Chronicle for posterity and as a companion study guide for Rian.

I can't imagine why Stack's would not share the pedigree with you. Did you speak with Dave Bowers?

Guys,

Glad you enjoyed the article. I do intend to send it in for a Curry's Article, though I want to work on it a bit more first.

Yes, I did ask Bowers. In fact I wrote a letter to him personally suggesting the importance of sharing the pedigree of this important coin with American collectors. Unfortunately, their client (the seller) asked to remain anonymous. I won't give up though.

Thx...Belay Off

I can understand that the seller might want to remain anonymous. It may be possible that the coin was in one family for 100+ years like the AU-58 '75-CC twenty-center.

I have been trying to find organic ties/links to the coin in "numismatic France" but have not been successful. I will continue to query Stacks to see if i can get some generic background. Who knows, maybe they will give up a clue or two that will help me snoop out the pedigree.

thxx....Belay Off