Jim Matthews shared a story about an 1832 JR-6 (photo provided below):
I have collected cuds and various oddments of Capped Bust dimes for 45 years. One of these oddments was reported in the 2015 publication of the Bust Dime Variety Identification Guide in 2015 by Zack, Scuderi, Sherrill, no doubt at my suggestion. This reference is on page 97 in the second paragraph which reports as follows "JR-6 is also known with an obverse cud above Star 2 (possibly unique)."
One thing about this coin bothered me, it was not the final use of the obverse die as 1832 JR-7 was struck later, so how did this so-called obverse cud disappear? Was it a later remarriage? Since no other confirming obverse cud example turned up in several years this anomaly needed further examination. I showed this coin to my coin dealer friend Steve who studied the cud and we talked about the possibilities of if it even was a cud. Of course, I wanted it to be a cud, but felt like it might be something else. The other option was solder on the edge of the coin which looked like an edge cud. The shape of the cud appeared like others on different dies that are known, and thus appeared to be correct for what a cud should like.
As we examined this strange cud like lump, the only other possibility was that it was solder. Then Steve checked the edge carefully, a slight disturbance was found near the cud, and the reeding was perfectly straight, but with late die state cuds where a piece of the die had broken away, the reeding should be bent and raised into the cud void. Then Steve checked the rim at 3 o'clock and another disturbance was noted, where the reeding was filed down ever so slightly. Of course, this coin had been part of a bracelet and removed! So, the cud was nothing but a patch of wayward solder from a time when this coin was used in jewelry.
The history of this coin is interesting as it was first purchased by Mike Marker, an early dime collector and cousin of the then JRCS President David Davis. Davis ended up with this coin long ago and gave it to me in 2009 for my cud collection. It slipped into my dime collection without proper examination with the *hope* that it was a very rare obverse cud. Now the proper and experienced examination by Steve has debunked this cud to be nothing more than post minting damage.
One of the great things about collecting is we are always learning new things, and have to keep an open mind to see things as they are, and not how we hope them to be.
Jim Matthews
