By Gerry Fortin:

E-Gobrecht readers may desire to know that an unnamed collector recently purchased the fourth known example of the extremely rare 1874 F-106 No Arrows seated dime variety. The collector contacted me in mid-November 2008 to report the acquisition after checking the Top 100 Varieties link at the www.seateddimevarieties.comwebsite. Needless to say, the individual was excited with the purchase and agreed to share his discovery with the Liberty Seated collecting community. Luckily I was in the United States and the collector immediately sending along the dime via FedEx for review and variety confirmation.

Below are images of the 1874 No Arrows dime in comparison to the F-106 webbook plate coin. The newly discovered specimens grades AU55 with faint wear on Liberty’s breasts and obviously was dipped at some point in time. The obverse and reverse fields are proof like as is the F-106 plate coin. The dime is well struck throughout with strong head details and bold shield banner and horizontal and vertical shield lines.

Fourth Known 1874 No Arrows F-106

1874 No Arrows F-106-Gerry Fortin Collection

Key diagnostic for this variety include faint outlines for the left and right arrows followed by noticeable repunching on the 1 and 8 digits. In addition, the 7 and 4 digits are unmistakably weak for the variety. Due to its high gray, the new specimen easily displays all of the primary diagnostics.

Since the formal publication of the 1874 No Arrows variety as part of the Seated Dime Top 100 Variety Set in 2004, a total of four specimens are known at this time. As with any major variety, publications and awareness due raise the probability of additional pieces being located.

Listing of Known 1874 No Arrows F-106 dimes as of November 2008

1. James Swarek – Low grade example as reported by Brian Greer in his Seated Dime guidebook (1991)

2. Gerry Fortin – ANACS AU58 and web-book plate coin (2003)

3. Ken Shield – VF35 with light central toning turning darker near the peripheries (2005)

4. Unnamed collector – The above specimen grading AU55 (2008)