Seated Liberty Dime Series Guide: What's It Worth?

Specifications

Denomination: Dime
Series: Seated Liberty dime
Designer: Christian Gobrecht
Weight: 2.48 g
Diameter: 17.9 mm

Public domain / Wikimedia Commons (Bibliothèque nationale de France, Gallica)

The Seated Liberty dime ran 1837–1891 in a parade of subtypes — No Stars, Stars, Arrows, and Legend obverses — and hides some of the great rarities of 19th-century silver, including the unique 1873-CC No Arrows (Greysheet; PCGS).

History

Christian Gobrecht’s Seated Liberty design debuted on the dime in 1837, the first year of the series, with the No Stars obverse that shows Liberty seated with no stars around her (Greysheet).
The Stars obverse arrived in 1838 and ran through 1853; then the weight reduction of 1853 brought Arrows at the Date (1853–1855), the last silver-lightweight signal of the era (Greysheet).
The Legend obverse — with UNITED STATES OF AMERICA replacing the stars — ran from 1860 through 1873, followed by a second Arrows-at-Date issue for 1873–1874 marking another weight adjustment (Greysheet).
After 1875 the Legend type resumed for the balance of the series through 1891, when the Barber dime replaced it (Greysheet).
Branch mints joined the series early: New Orleans struck dimes from 1838, San Francisco from 1856, and Carson City from 1871 (PCGS; Greysheet).

What is it worth

Common Philadelphia dates are genuinely affordable: PCGS’s price guide lists the 1876 at $30 in G4, $75 in VF30, and $95 in XF40 (PCGS).
The 1872-CC (mintage 35,480) lists at $7,750 in VF30, $13,000 in XF40, $165,000 in MS60, and $600,000 in MS63 on the PCGS price guide (PCGS).
The 1873-CC Arrows lists at $14,500 in VF30; the 1874-CC Arrows at $31,000 in VF30, $41,500 in XF40, and $185,000 in MS60 (PCGS).
The 1871-CC lists at $25,000 in XF40 on the PCGS price guide (PCGS).
The 1873-CC No Arrows is unique and realized $1,840,000 at auction in 2012, one of the great auction records in American numismatics (Greysheet).

Key dates in the series

1873-CC No Arrows: unique; $1,840,000 in 2012 (Greysheet).
1871-CC: the first Carson City dime, $25,000 in XF40 (PCGS; Greysheet).
1872-CC: mintage 35,480; $7,750 in VF30 (PCGS; Greysheet).
1873-CC Arrows: the key of the second arrows type; $14,500 in VF30 (PCGS; Greysheet).
1874-CC Arrows: $31,000 in VF30 (PCGS; Greysheet).
1860-O and Civil War dates: major scarce issues of the Legend era, alongside the 1885-S (Greysheet).
1894-S: the famous 1894-S dime belongs to the succeeding Barber series rather than this one; it is listed by Greysheet as a major rarity but sits outside this series’ scope (Greysheet).

What drives the premium

Mintmark and date: Carson City issues of the early 1870s are the undisputed keys, with San Francisco and New Orleans dates of the Civil War era close behind (Greysheet).
Subtype: No Stars (1837–1838), Stars (1838–1853), Arrows (1853–1855 and 1873–1874), and Legend (1860–1891) are collected as distinct types (Greysheet).
Condition: Seated dimes saw hard circulation, so original XF and AU examples of even common dates are worth multiples of Good money (PCGS).
Variety: repunched dates, misplaced dates, and doubled dies abound in this series and carry specialist premiums (Greysheet).

Specifications

Years struck: 1837–1891 (PCGS)
Designer: Christian Gobrecht (Greysheet)
Diameter: 17.90 mm (PCGS)
Weight: 2.48 g (later issues); 2.49 g standard 1856–1860; 2.50 g 1875–1891 (PCGS; Greysheet)
Composition: 90% silver (PCGS)
Edge: reeded (PCGS)
Mints: Philadelphia (no mintmark); New Orleans (O); San Francisco (S); Carson City (CC) (PCGS; Greysheet)
1872-CC mintage: 35,480 (PCGS)

Collector notes

A complete date-and-mint set is a serious undertaking — the series spans 54 years and four mints — so most collectors build by subtype or cherry-pick keys (Greysheet).
The 1873-CC No Arrows uniqueness is the kind of story that defines the series: a single coin, struck before the arrows were added to signal the weight change, that brought $1.84 million in 2012 (Greysheet).
Watch for the two different 1873-CC issues: Arrows (common-ish for a CC) and No Arrows (unique) — they are different coins at wildly different prices (Greysheet).
Early No Stars dimes (1837–1838) are collected as their own one-year-style type and carry premiums in high grade (Greysheet).