NNP ADDS JIM MATTHEWS BUST DIME PHOTOS

Courtesy of photographer Steve Herrman, images of the Jim Matthews early U.S. dime collection are now available on Newman Portal. The Capped Bust portion of the collection is nearly complete by JR variety and features several examples with late state die cuds. The collection represents a 45-year quest for Matthews, who began collecting the series around the time of the publication Early United States Dimes 1796-1837 (1984) by David J. Davis, Russell J. Logan, Allen F. Lovejoy, John W. McCloskey and William L. Subjack. The majority of the Matthews collection is currently imaged, with the remainder to be posted shortly.

"The Matthews Collection is an excellent one!

The Capped Bust dime series is “easier” to complete by die marriage than other denominations since there are fewer rare varieties – of the 123 known die marriages, the only one that carries the R.8 rarity rating (1-3 examples known) is the 1827 JR-14, discovered in 2011. The next rarest die marriage is the High R.6 (13-18 examples known) 1827 JR-10, and all others are in the R.5 range and below. There have been at least 9 collections listed in the JRCS census that were complete except for the 1827 JR-14, with 8 listed at the same time in the 2013 census! One collection does contain all 123 die marriages, discussed here: https://jr-newsletter.blogspot.com/2015/05/jr-newsletter-31-may-2015-243.html.

While completion is relatively easier, assembling a collection with all high-grade or choice examples is not. To use the most famous example, the finest known 1829 Curl Base 2 dime grades VF35. Most are found in low grades with problems, with only about 20% grading F12 or better according to Louis Scuderi's 2011 John Reich Journal census. (Census: https://archive.org/details/johnreichjournal21n2john/page/13/mode/1up)

Cuds are one of Matthews' particular areas of interest, and the 1825 JR-4 dime pictured is one of the rarest cuds in the series. This specific cud was discussed here: https://jr-newsletter.blogspot.com/2012/01/jr-newsletter-29-january-2012-73.html. More generally, Matthews wrote about Capped Bust dime cuds in the following John Reich Journal article: https://archive.org/details/johnreichjournal16n3john/page/31/mode/1up."