JR Newsletter: 2 October 2016 (313)

Jim Matthews wrote:

I finally acquired a nice AU55 example of one of the more common cuds known for my dime collection from the coins sold by W. David Perkins of the Kirk Gorman Collection. The variety I found so challenging is the 1833 JR-4. Actually a low grade example of this variety was one of my first retained cuds purchased. My friend Don Valenziano heard of my budding interest in these late die state coins and showed me this fabulous example with the reverse die broken and moving in three connecting pieces from the E in UNITED down to the scroll and all along the upper portion of that side to the first A in AMERICA. Despite the wear, this is still one of the latest examples I've seen with the initial retained cud from the left side to the edge of A in STATES, another crack down through the E of that word, and the final crack splitting the first A of AMERICA, all these cracks connect to the scroll from the rim above.

Over the decades I've acquired about 30 examples in varying states of decay of the 1833 JR-4 with a retained cud. I've since sold back a few into the market place. I began to think myself somewhat obsessed with studying the varying die states of this variety, but then encountered other collectors who had acquired extensive hoards with similar penchants for certain dates or varieties, and realized its all part of the scholarship of this hobby and not so much a question of my sanity.

Over the past few years I've been working on getting my Capped Bust dimes graded by PCGS, it's a laborious process as many coins simply aren't worth the cost of grading, so those remain in their natural raw state. Others I've sent in for this process. One of these was my 1833 JR-4 with a retained cud (actually a fairly early example of this cud) from the Russell J. Logan Collection which graded XF40, a nice grade for that coin. I also had another decent example with the retained cud that came back VF30 from PCGS that I'm going to sell. So at long last I have a solid AU55 example to represent this seemingly common cud in my collection.

Jim