Although many collectors today think of the Roosevelt dime as having been around forever, until the year 2000 it was eclipsed by the Seated Liberty dimes, coined for 54 years. By the time that a new dime design was adopted, that by Charles Barber in 1892, all except collectors had forgotten about the designs that existed before 1837. In terms of numismatic importance, however, the Seated Liberty dime is one of the most interesting silver coins struck by the United States mints.
The Seated Liberty dime series has many great rarities, yet it also has coins so common that nearly every collector can afford to own them. The story begins in July 1835, just after Dr. Robert M. Patterson became the sixth director of the United States Mint.
Patterson wanted very much to improve the artwork on coins of the United States; he considered the coins then being struck as little better than ordinary and no competition for those produced in Europe, especially at the French and British mints. He felt it was time that our coins entered the 19th century.
To achieve his goal, the director hired artists Titian Peale and Thomas Sully to create entirely new designs according to his strict instructions. The reverse by Peale (a flying eagle, not used on the dime) does not concern us here, but the figure of a seated Liberty by Sully is another matter.
