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Jeff Ambio: Fully lustrous, satin to softly frosted surfaces are further adorned with delicate reddish-gold and powder-blue highlights in isolated peripheral areas. Razor sharp in strike, and overall smooth confirming the validity of the Gem Mint State rating.
Rusty Goe: To write about a coin that is the solitary existing specimen of a lone day's production run of limited-edition dimes at an isolated mint in a small village in a sparsely populated region of a state destined to become more famous for gambling than anything else it produced, requires a full blast of energy.
As you proceed, please remember you are reading about THE 1873-CC No Arrows dime, not just about 1873-CC No Arrows dimes. Even with the incomprehensibly rare No Arrows quarters of that same year, we are talking about a plural number -- only five, but still a plurality. With the dime, there is only ONE. It rightfully deserves the title, "King of Carson City coins."
The story about it unfolds as the Carson City Mint entered into the third month of its fourth year of making coins. On March 3, 1873, the mint's coiner Chauncey N. Noteware and his staff delivered 12,400 dimes, without arrowheads next to the date, to Superintendent Henry F. Rice. For good measure, Noteware and company also delivered 1,300 Liberty Seated silver dollars and 40,000 No Arrows half dollars on that memorable Monday in March. The mint hands left work that evening knowing that their day's yield of 53,700 coins taxed their only steam-powered press to its limits.
Superintendent Rice snatched five of those 1873-CC No Arrows dimes to send to Philadelphia in compliance with the annual Assay Commission statute. We believe that the only 1873-CC No Arrows dime known to exist survived from that five-piece parcel sent to the Assay Commission. The Annual Report of the Director of the Mint, published in 1874, listed the statistics for the assay testing of all coins sent from the various mints that took place in February of that year. On page 40, the chart showed that the assay commissioners had tested one of the five 1873-CC No Arrows dimes sent by Superintendent Rice. The results revealed that the test-dime weighed 38.05 grains, about .35 of a grain underweight, but still within the legal limit.
First Recorded Appearance
At Edward Cogan's John Swan Randall sale, conducted by Bangs & Co. of New York, in May 1878, Cogan cataloged Lot 902, under the "Dimes" section, as an "1873 Old style. C. C. Mint. Fine impression." Cogan had used the terms "old style" and "new style" to distinguish between the No Arrows and Arrows subtypes.
His use of "Fine impression" for the condition rating does not appear to coincide with our modern-day grade of Fine. Today a coin in Fine-12 or Fine-15 is between the Very Good and Very Fine grade ranges. In Edward Cogan's day (1856 to 1879), numismatists' use of adjectives covered a broader spectrum than does the use of them today. In a collectors' manual popular around that time, the author, George F. Jones, a friend of Cogan's, wrote that, "Allowance must be made, in some cases, as to the condition of coins ... for instance, what one may call 'uncirculated,' others would only denominate as fine...." The subjective nature of rating the conditions of coins allowed a person to use the term Fine much like people then, and today, would use it in a general sense -- "It's a fine day isn’t it?" or "That's a fine suit you're wearing," or "He's a fine musician."
Where appropriate, Cogan designated coins in his catalog as "rare," "scarce," and "exceedingly scarce." He added no such designation to the 1873-CC "Old style" dime. The price realized of 17 cents justified his omission of any rarity status for this piece, at least as far as the bidders in his sale perceived it.
Despite the unpretentious listing of this coin, this marks the first known public appearance of an 1873-CC No Arrows dime, outside the Carson City Mint and the Philadelphia Mint's Assay Commission testing room. Unfortunately, we don't know where John Swan Randall got the coin, what its actual condition was, or through whose hands it subsequently passed.
Heaton's Assessment
Fifteen years passed before the numismatic world saw another reference to the 1873-CC No Arrows dime, when Augustus G. Heaton published A Treatise on the Coinage of the United States Branch Mints. The year, 1893, was coincidently the 20th anniversary of the Carson City Mint's striking of the 1873-CC No Arrows dimes, and the year that institution ceased its coining operations for good.
By then, Heaton and a small circle of fellow numismatists had become fascinated with mintmarked coins, and had discovered the rarity of many of them. They faced challenges, however, in not having access to surviving populations and not having U.S. Mint reports that segregated the various branches' production totals into separate categories. Therefore, when Heaton viewed the mintage total for dimes at Carson City in 1873, he saw the figure 31,191. He compared that to the 10,817 dimes minted in Carson City in 1874, and by doing the math, concluded that the 1874-CC was the rarest date. Additionally, since he obviously knew of no 1873-CC Arrows dimes in existence, he could report only about ones "without the arrowheads" for that year.
Throughout Heaton's pamphlet, we see that if he believed a certain issue was scarce he would state it emphatically. He made no such claim about the 1873-CC No Arrows dime, presumably because neither he nor the numismatic community knew its status.
After the release of Heaton's small but influential treatise, the door slammed tight in the face of further findings about the 1873-CC No Arrows dime for at least another 16 years.
Entering the 20th Century
Preeminent numismatist John M. Clapp often compared notes with noted collector DeWitt Smith and writer-researcher-collector A.G. Heaton. The three numismatic luminaries shared a common passion for mintmarked coins. In Clapp's inventory notebook, in the row reserved for an 1873-CC No Arrows dime, a low-key entry reads, "DeWitt Smith has one." The Clapp collection, of course, never included an example of this dime, or its counterpart quarter, but it's easy to imagine its custodians made it a point to track down who did.
It would be great to trace the provenance of the 1873-CC No Arrows dime that DeWitt Smith reportedly owned, but unfortunately, no one has ever proven that DeWitt Smith owned an 1873-CC No Arrows dime.
The Clapp notation, which was made sometime around the early years of the 1900s, is the only fragment of information we have about the 1873-CC No Arrows dime between 1893 (Heaton's pamphlet) and the turn of the 20th century.
In 1951, Louis E. Eliasberg, Sr. revealed in his pamphlet that featured highlights from his amazing collection, that his specimen of the famous dime "was first known in 1909 when it left the Mint along with other coins and patterns involved in the settlement of two $50 gold patterns, which were repossessed by the Government."
Years later, Q. David Bowers, in his company's 1996 Eliasberg auction catalog, would reveal that this story had come from long-time professional numismatist, Stephen K. Nagy. Eliasberg, in his 1951 pamphlet had not mentioned Nagy as the source.
Some researchers today (2012) question whether Nagy and his mentor Capt. John W. Haseltine obtained the legendary dime for their client, William H. Woodin, in a trade with the Treasury Department. The two Philadelphia dealers, Nagy and Haseltine, had apparently brokered a deal between Woodin and the government, which purportedly involved a large cache of patterns transferred from the Mint Bureau to Woodin in exchange for two 1877 $50 gold Half Unions, which Woodin had reportedly bought for $10,000 apiece.
Interestingly, Abe Kosoff told a similar story in an article he wrote for Coin World in March 1971. He did not mention Nagy, but said "an old-timer who knew all the principals involved" gave him the scoop. Kosoff said nothing about the 1873-CC No Arrows dime being a part of the transfer.
Fortunately, in 1914, an event occurred that gave convincing evidence that an 1873-CC dime, without arrowheads, existed.
Henry Olson Granberg, a collector from Oshkosh, Wisconsin, displayed his 1873-CC No Arrows dime at the American Numismatic Society's Exhibition of United States and Colonial Coins from January to February 1914 in New York City. The cataloger boldly alleged its unique standing when he wrote, "Only specimen known." Granberg's association with Woodin is the reason why the Nagy-Haseltine-Woodin connection to it holds some credence.
First 20th Century Auction Appearance
Wayte Raymond, president of The United States Coin Company of New York City, wrote in his May 1915 Catalogue of the Superb Collection of United States Coins Belonging to a Prominent American,
"The collection of coins in this catalogue was formed by one of our prominent American collectors, and it has taken a good many years to secure such a complete collection in such splendid condition...."
The sale featured an unquestionably desirable array of rare coins; but it lacked numismatic superstars. Unless, of course, someone had singled out the hidden jewel in the auction.
Raymond described Lot 580, under the section titled "Dimes, Carson City Mint," as follows:
"1873 Without Arrows. Uncirculated with mint lustre. Of the greatest rarity, and we believe unique, as we cannot find a record of any other specimen. The rarest and most important coin in the mint mark series."
Although the winning bid of $170 for the unique (at least in Mr. Raymond's opinion) "CC" dime rose to the top of the list of prices realized in the sale, it fell far short of what major rarities were selling for at the time. Notable coins such as 1804 Draped Bust silver dollars, 1787 Brasher doubloons, and 1877 $50 Half Union gold patterns had brought four to five figures in that era. The top price paid for a Carson City coin up to that time had been $250, for an 1876-CC twenty-cent piece, in Raymond's 1913 sale of the Malcolm N. Jackson collection.
Still, the 1873-CC No Arrows dime's appearance at The United States Coin Company's Fifth Ave. suite in New York, advanced it many steps forward from its (or another specimen's) modest debut in Edward Cogan's 1878 sale 37 years earlier. Raymond's 1915 auction catalog had officially designated it as a No Arrows variety, rather than just an "Old style." It rated its condition as Uncirculated, rather than the more vague, "Fine impression." It declared it unique, rather than leaving the question to debate; and the auction raised its market value from 17 cents to 170 dollars -- a 100,000 percent gain!
Thirty years after that sale, Wayte Raymond, writing in 1945, stated that Granberg had built the collection that included the 1873-CC No Arrows dime, and that one of Granberg's suppliers, Woodin, consigned it. So it is unclear to whom the title "Prominent American" referred. Raymond could have justifiably bestowed it on either man.
Raymond's inconclusiveness about who had consigned the 1873-CC No Arrows dime to his 1915 sale forces us to note both Granberg and Woodin in its pedigree line.
Who owned it next? One would think that the auctioneer, in this case Wayte Raymond, would have the inside information. Yet, writing 30 years after the 1915 sale, he said he was "fairly certain that Mr. Lyman H. Low [at the time, a 71-year-old coin dealer from New York] bought it [No Arrows dime] for Virgil M. Brand of Chicago." (The Coin Collector's Journal, July-August 1945, page 72.) Raymond admitted that no business records of that sale existed, so we know he tapped his memory to make his statement.
The problem we have with Raymond's recall is nowhere else in records of Virgil M. Brand's holdings -- none of the numerous catalogs that featured his coins -- do we encounter an 1873-CC No Arrows dime. Furthermore, no one else has ever linked Lyman H. Low's name to the dime.
John J. Ford Jr., who amassed one of the greatest numismatic libraries and one of the most diversified collections of coins, paper money, and everything else numismatic, had a voracious appetite for research, and studied the 1873-CC No Arrows dime. From someone or something (possibly the auction company's bid book in which the prices realized and the names of all winning bidders from the sale appeared), Ford learned that New York coin dealer Rudolph "Rud" Kohler bought the 1873-CC No Arrows dime at the 1915 Prominent American sale. Ford even knew that Kohler won the lot as a floor bidder (in contrast to a mail bidder) at the auction. (The Numismatist, "Wayte Raymond: The Man and the Era," page 158, February 1957.)
Perhaps Kohler, whose office was only about ten blocks from where The U.S. Coin Company conducted the Prominent American auction, acted as an agent for an out-of-town buyer.
Waldo No. 1 Captures Carson City's Finest
Nothing impedes provenance research more than when a famous collector's holdings are dispersed privately, rather than through a major auction. Unfortunately, this happened in the case of one of the most accomplished, and at the same time, most unsung numismatists in history, Waldo C. Newcomer.
In at least one pedigree registry, Rud Kohler's name is omitted and ownership from the Woodin-Granberg alliance (1915 sale) is transferred directly to Waldo C. Newcomer. In other provenance studies, Newcomer's name is replaced with "went into private hands." Recent research confirms that Newcomer owned the coveted dime from the time it sold in the 1915 Prominent American sale (whether through intermediary Kohler or by direct bid) until B. Max Mehl liquidated Newcomer's U.S. coin collection in the early 1930s.
The silver portion of the collection appears to have been complete, with the exception of the 1870-S half dime, 1873-CC No Arrows quarter, and surprisingly, the 1875-CC Below Wreath mintmark dime.
A Trip to Cincinnati
We don't know much about Charles M. Williams, a principal in the Western and Southern Life Insurance Company of Cincinnati, but in 1933, he obviously had enough money to buy Newcomer's complete dime collection from Mehl, and maybe pieces of other denominations. Included in the acquisition, Williams received the 1873-CC No Arrows dime. The cherished but underappreciated dime stayed put in Williams' collection through the rest of the 1930s and the 1940s.
A "Coming Out" Celebration in 1950
Numismatic Gallery scheduled an auction of the collection formed by Charles M. Williams for June 1950. (Williams's 1804 silver dollar and 1822 half eagle were sold private treaty.) The seller-consignor requested anonymity, so Numismatic Gallery used the name of dapper American actor Adolphe Menjou to brand the auction. The actor's image added a romantic flare to the pre-sale interest, but the coins created the greatest buzz.
Cataloger Abe Kosoff listed the many first-class rarities as showstoppers in the auction, including an 1876-CC twenty-cent piece, and an 1894-S Barber dime. The wild card in the sale was the 1873-CC No Arrows dime -- Kosoff struggled to give it proper classification; he grappled with establishing a pre-sale price estimate for it.
For all of the other prestigious coins in the auction, he had relatively recent prices realized. For the 1894-S Barber dime, for instance, Kosoff noted that the World's Greatest Collection specimen in 1945 had brought $2,350. Accordingly, he set his pre-sale estimate in the 1950 Menjou auction at $2,500. He followed this same line of reasoning for all the other attention-getters in the sale.
But how could he use this strategy for the No Arrows dime? The last public price realized for it, $170, was recorded 35 years earlier. Kosoff knew its value had appreciated significantly since then. Writing 20 years after the Menjou auction, Kosoff recalled that before he published the catalog for it, he had set the pre-sale estimate at $2,000. Phone calls from irate clients, however, caused him to cut that number in half by the time his company mailed the catalogs. Still, the $1,000 estimate brought complaints from collectors, who reminded Kosoff that the current price guide listed the 1873-CC No Arrows dime's value at $350, which Kosoff considered totally unreasonable, especially if his inference about the coin's unique status was legitimate.
Kosoff knew of one man in the country who wanted that dime more than any other person did. Louis E. Eliasberg, Sr., who by then had surpassed just about all other numismatists in history in terms of the completeness of his collection, needed the No Arrows dime, and another coin in the Menjou sale, the 1853-O Without Arrows and Rays half dollar, to achieve something no one else had ever achieved.
Eighty-eight lots before the 1873-CC No Arrows dime's turn, Numismatic Gallery offered an 1894-S Barber dime. Interestingly, Kosoff stated that it was the "rarest dime at any of the mints." It's not clear if he meant to say it had the lowest mintage figure of any dime minted in the U.S. or if he meant it was the rarest dime by survival count. It would have been difficult for Kosoff to support the latter claim, even though he had estimated that "about 7 are known to exist." Because 88 lots later he raved about the rarity of the 1873-CC No Arrows dime. He didn't call it unique, as Raymond had done in 1915, but he came close. He did not just limit its rarity to the context of the dime series; he declared it was among the rarest of all U.S. coins. He placed it in company with the 1804 Draped Bust silver dollar and the 1913 Liberty Head nickel. "In fact," he reminded everyone, "these [last two coins mentioned] have been offered several times in the past few years." But when, he asked, was the last 1873-CC No Arrows dime offered? Then he started naming famous collections that did not have the rare dime from Carson City: Boyd, Neil, Stickney, Higgy. He said, "You’ll have to search far and wide to find another." He declared that the next owner of the dime would "own a coin the equal of which will probably never appear." Kosoff's prose in this coin's description epitomizes the emotions of a man in the presence of greatness.
A packed house gathered at the auction gallery down the street from Kosoff and Kreisberg's Wilshire Blvd. office in Beverly Hills, at 8:00 p.m. sharp on Thursday June 15, 1950, to witness what promised to be a memorable night. The highest price realized, leading up to the 1873-CC No Arrows dime, was $1,850, for the 1894-S Barber dime, which was a little disappointing since it had fallen 26 percent short of Kosoff's $2,500 pre-sale estimate.
Kosoff then called Lot 399, the 1873-CC No Arrows dime. As he remembered it 20 years later, Kosoff said the "bidding opened at about $1,100 and went rapidly to $2,000 [when Eliasberg jumped in], to $2,500, $3,000, $3,500; Eliasberg bid $3,500 [James] Kelly $3,600, Eliasberg to $3,625; Kelly went to $3,650," and "then silence -- Eliasberg was dropping out."
Writing 25 years later, Eliasberg described his experience at the Menjou auction:
"When the Adolphe Menjou catalogue came out in 1950, I flew to California to buy the 1853-O Half Dollar/no arrows, no rays, and an 1873-CC Dime/no arrows. I attempted to purchase the Dime [before the auction] at twice the value they estimated it to be worth, and thereby avoid a trip to California, but they declined. I made the trip and I bid many times what I thought the Dime was worth, but failed to buy it. In fact, I was so provoked ... I did not attend the second session [the following night] to bid for the [1853-O] Half Dollar."
Joseph Stack, a partner in Stack's of New York, with whom Eliasberg had conducted many transactions, stayed for the second session that Friday evening and bought the 1853-O Without Arrows and Rays half dollar, for $890, for his client, who had caught the next flight back to Baltimore. With the purchase of the 1853-O half dollar, Eliasberg still lacked the one coin needed to complete his immortal collection.
Five months passed and, in November 1950, Sol Kaplan wrote to Eliasberg and asked him what he would pay for the dime. Eliasberg, who was brooding over his unpleasant auction experience and also grieving over the loss of his wife to cancer in December 1949, responded gallantly that he would pay $4,000. Kaplan shipped the coin and Eliasberg sent a check. What should have happened in June came to pass on November 7, 1950. Eliasberg had achieved the goal he had set for himself many years earlier.
The dime remained in the Eliasberg family's possession for 46 years, under the patriarch's supervision until his death in February 1976, and then another 20 years in the custody of his younger son, Richard A. Eliasberg.
With its uniqueness established and its inclusion in the most famous U.S. coin collection in history, the addition of the 1873-CC No Arrows dime to the Eliasberg collection did much to elevate the notoriety and popularity of Carson City coins.
Into the Hands of Waldo No. 2
In the Eliasberg May 1996 auction catalog, produced by Bowers and Merena of Wolfeboro, New Hampshire, Bowers wrote, under Lot 1198 in the dimes section:
"1873-CC Without Arrows at date. MS-65 or finer. The only specimen known to exist. The final coin acquired, November 7, 1950, to complete the Eliasberg Collection."
Bowers wrote about the pending 1996 sale, that the 1873-CC No Arrows dime "will forever be remembered as one of the greatest auction offerings of all time." To further entice prospective bidders, and to forevermore silence any doubters of the dime's significance, he wrote, "The importance of this coin is unsurpassed by any rarity in the American series. Not only is it the only specimen of its issue known to exist, it is further the only Carson City coin of any denomination that is unique."
At first, the auctioneer at the podium recognized bids from all over the floor. Yet in the end, everyone else had dropped out after bidding hit $500,000, and an Illinois manufacturer of bubble gum machines, Waldo E. "Pat" Bolen Jr., after paying a 10 percent buyer's fee, bagged the dime.
After the Eliasberg 1996 sale, Bolen told a reporter, "I was prepared to pay a million dollars [for it]." (Coinage, August 1996, page 44, Miller Publishing, Ventura, CA). Many people had thought it had a chance to reach that level, especially after the 1913 Liberty Head nickel's record-setting showing -- at $1.485 million -- but others thought Bolen had paid too much.
Regardless, the now world-renowned Carson City dime had received further recognition of its elevated value. The price realized ($550,000) represented an increase of 13,750 percent over Eliasberg's cost 46 years earlier; and, once again, it had bested the performance of the 1894-S Barber dime, which sold for $451,000 in the same 1996 auction.
At the end of the 20th century, the 1873-CC No Arrows dime ranked right at the top on the list of the rarest coins in the world, in good company with other unique examples, some of which were not even available to collectors.
The Value Increases
Bolen used the 1873-CC No Arrows dime as a cornerstone to build another set of coins. In April 1999, Bolen's 11-piece silver and gold set of Carson City coins from the year 1873 sold at auction at the Milwaukee Central States Numismatic Society convention. Combined, Bolen's coins brought $1,056,275. The 1873-CC No Arrows quarter, which Bolen had bought in the Eliasberg 1997 sale, and its unique companion dime accounted for 70 percent of that total.
"Jay" Parrino, a Kansas City, Missouri coin dealer, bought Bolen's 1873-CC No Arrows dime for $632,500 in that 1999 CSNS auction, which established a new world-record price for the denomination.
After owning the illustrious Carson City dime for five years, Parrino consigned it, along with his unique 1870-S half dime, to Bowers and Merena's July 2004 Baltimore convention sale.
I flew to Orange County, CA two months before the auction to view the 1873-CC No Arrows dime and all the other Carson City coins in the sale. As a phone bidder from my office in Reno, I fulfilled my fondest desire when I won the coveted dime in the July auction for $891,250.
Time to Complete the Battle Born Collection
The Battle Born collector chooses to remain anonymous. I met him in early 2001 and was impressed with how far his set of Carson City coins had come in the eight or so years since he had seriously pursued it. By late 2004, his collection included 110 of the 111 pieces necessary for a complete set of "CC" coins. Eliasberg's spectacular holdings had included the only 111-piece set of Carson City coins ever owned by one person at one time. Mr. Battle Born had not planned on completing his collection -- the 1873-CC No Arrows dime had appeared to him as out of reach. When I bought it in July 2004, the once unthinkable accomplishment seemed suddenly within his grasp.
After I sold him the dime, his collection took a giant leap into the numismatic record book. Mr. Battle Born and Louis E. Eliasberg Sr. would forevermore have their names listed side by side, because they had each built 111-piece sets of Carson City coins.
Following is a list of the known owners (or handlers) of this unique memento from the Carson City Mint:
-1914 -- 1915: William H. Woodin, H. O. Granberg
-1915: Rudolph Kohler
-1915 -- 1933: Waldo C. Newcomer
-1933: B. Max Mehl
-1933 -- 1950: Charles M. Williams
-1950: Sol Kaplan and James Kelly
-1950 -- 1996: Louis E. Eliasberg Sr. and family
-1996 -- 1999: Waldo E. Bolen Jr.
-1999 -- 2004: Jasper "Jay" Parrino
-2004: Rusty Goe
-2004 -- 2012: Battle Born collector
-2012 -- And beyond: ?
The sale of this dime in the Stack's Bowers Rarities Night event will surely result in a tribute to the greatest surviving relic from the Mint on Carson Street. It reigns as the "King of Carson City coins."
Many numismatic authorities through the years, when given the opportunity to comment on the 1873-CC No Arrows dime's place in the hobby, have gushed over it. The editor for the 1914 ANS Exhibition catalog said it was "The only known specimen." Wayte Raymond in his 1915 Prominent American catalog had called it unique and added that it was "The rarest and most important coin in the mint mark series." Abe Kosoff in his 1950 Menjou catalog wrote, "To own this gem is to own a coin the equal of which will probably never appear." And Q. David Bowers, in the Eliasberg 1996 catalog, wrote, "The importance of this coin is unsurpassed by any rarity in the American series."
I believe the seven words John J. Ford Jr. wrote in the February 1957 The Numismatist (page 158) speak volumes when he called the 1873-CC No Arrows dime: "The rarest regularly issued American silver piece."
Q. David Bowers: This dime was the capstone of the Louis E. Eliasberg Collection and was the very last piece obtained by him in 1950 to complete his collection. At that point Eliasberg had done what no one had ever done before or will ever do again -- he acquired one of every known date and mintmark variety of United States coin from the 1793 half cent to the 1933 double eagle. In 1996 Bowers and Merena Galleries had the honor of presenting the third part of the Eliasberg Collection at auction, where it was described in part:
"Lot: 1198 1873-CC No Arrows at date Liberty Seated dime. MS-65 or finer. The only specimen known to exist. The final coin acquired, November 7, 1950, to complete the Eliasberg Collection. This splendid gem is virtual perfection save for several inconsequential contact marks. Brilliant, somewhat satiny surfaces. Some hints of golden toning. Superbly and beautifully struck.
"The only known specimen; unique. Perfect obverse die. Closed 3 in date. Partial wire rim on obverse and reverse. A die crack through the mintmark begins to left of CC, extends in a slightly upward direction through the central areas of CC, ending at the wreath ribbon.
"The importance of this coin is unsurpassed by any rarity in the American series. Not only is it the only specimen of its issue known to exist, it is, further, the only Carson City coin of any denomination that is unique (the runner-up is the 1873-CC No Arrows quarter of which four are known). As Carson City coins have a special aura and romance of their own, it can be said that this is truly a special unique coin.
"This specimen, formerly owned by William H. Woodin [this point has since been modified; see preceding 2012 pedigree], was first publicized in 1914 when it was on display at the American Numismatic Society, New York, as part of an exhibit that brought together major rarities from many private collections (1804 dollars in multiples were shown). Over a long period of years the 1873-CC Without-Arrows Liberty Seated dime was a highlight of the Louis E. Eliasberg, Sr. Collection, was displayed widely and featured in nationwide magazines and newspapers. The Louis Eliasberg Memorial Exhibition held at the United States Mint in 1976 was accompanied by a brochure titled "The Only Complete Date and Mint Collection of United States Coins." Especially highlighted were three prime rarities: the unique 1873-CC dime without arrows at the date, the unique 1870-S $3, and the 1804 silver dollar.
"Today the 1873-CC Without-Arrows dime is listed as unique -- the only known specimen -- in all major coin catalogues and citations. No collection of United States dimes can be truly complete without this specimen.
"Once sold, it may be decades or even more than a lifetime before it comes on the market again. The last time it changed hands was on November 7, 1950, when it was the last coin acquired to complete the fabulous Eliasberg Collection.
Tradition of the 1873-CC No Arrows Dime
"As the presently offered 1873-CC Without-Arrows Liberty Seated dime is a superb satiny gem and shows no evidence of circulation, it seems likely that it was reserved for inspection by the Assay Commission, which met in Philadelphia on Wednesday, February 11, 1874, to review the prior year's gold and silver production from all mints. Parcels of coins from the various mints were opened, and random representative pieces were selected by Assay Commission members and were destructively tested in the Mint laboratory for weight and precious metal content. Only a few coins reserved for the Commission were actually tested; most were later melted or placed into circulation…
"Regarding the Assay Commission: The Commission met in Philadelphia on Wednesday, February 11, 1874, to review the coinage of the preceding year, 1873. On hand were these ex officio members: Hon. A.F. Rorie (judge of the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania), John Cadwalader (second judge from the district as preceding), and Herbert Gray Torrey (assayer at the U.S. Assay Office, New York City). On hand from the Philadelphia Mint were: William E. DuBois (assayer), Archibald Loudon Snowden (chief coiner), William Barber (chief engraver), James C. Booth (melter; one of the most technically qualified people ever on the Mint staff; it was he who did much of the work circa 1856 for the adoption of the copper-nickel cent alloy), and Henry C. Hickok (secretary of the Assay Commission). Appointed to the Assay Commission from the public sector were these individuals: Henry Coppee, E.B. Elliott, H.E. Hilgard, Hon. John P. Jones (U.S. senator from Nevada), John Jay Knox (father of the U.S. trade dollar and a numismatist), John L. LeConte, Andrew Mason (another assayer from the New York Assay Office), J.M. Merrick, John M. Rose, and B.F. Taylor (erstwhile chief coiner of the New Orleans Mint, and important in the scenario of the creation of the 1861 Confederate States of America half dollar). On hand for the Assay Commission to consider were examples of the 1873-CC coinage (as well as all other silver and gold coinages). Included would have been one or more 1873-CC Without Arrows dimes and several examples of the 1873-CC Without Arrows quarter dollar. The procedure was for the Assay Commission to select at random from the many hundreds of gold and silver coins on hand a few for destructive testing. The other coins, representing the majority, were either placed into circulation or, if desired, given as souvenirs to Assay Commission members for face value."
The Battle Born Collection
Today the Battle Born Collection stands as only the second collection in numismatic history to have an absolutely complete presentation of Carson City coinage, this 1873-CC No Arrows dime being definitive. In 1999 the Nevada State Museum in Carson City, in the former Mint building, was gifted with a collection of this coinage, except for the unique 1873-CC No Arrows dime as here offered and the exceedingly rare 1873-CC No Arrows quarter.
To paraphrase what was said about George Washington, the Father of Our Country, time increases the fame of the 1873-CC No Arrows dime. Since its last auction offering Rusty Goe, through his books and displays, has vastly increased the knowledge of the Carson City Mint and its coinage, with this unique dime being in the center of the spotlight.
In advance I congratulate the successful bidder for this unique treasure. You will forever be a key name in the history of American numismatics.
1873-CC Without Arrows Liberty Seated Dime PCGS MS-65
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Statistical Snapshot*
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Population in Battle Born Grade
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MS-65
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1
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0
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1
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1
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1
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12,400
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* As of July 2012
PCGS# 4661.
From the Battle Born Collection. Earlier ex: Edward Cogan's sale of the John Swan Randall Collection, May 1878, lot 902; H.O. Granberg, who displayed the coin at the 1914 ANS Exhibit in New York City and consigned it to the following; Wayte Raymond's "Collection of a Prominent American" sale, May 1915, where it realized $170; New York numismatist Rudolph "Rud" Kohler; Waldo C. Newcomer, acquired 1915; Charles M. Williams, acquired 1933 from Newcomer via Texas dealer B. Max Mehl, consigned to the following; Abe Kosoff's Adolphe Menjou Collection sale, June 15, 1950, where it sold for $3,650; James C. Kelly and Sol Kaplan, who outbid Louis E. Eliasberg, Sr. at the Menjou Collection sale; Louis E. Eliasberg, Sr., acquired November 7, 1950 from Kelly and Kaplan for $4,000; our (Bowers and Merena's) sale of the Louis E. Eliasberg, Sr. Collection, May 1996, lot 1198, where it realized $550,000; Waldo E. "Pat" Bolen, Jr.; Heritage's sale of the Waldo E. Bolen, Jr. Collection of 1873-CC Coinag
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