1870 Dime Patterns

About This Coin

Part of William Barber's Standard Silver Patterns program, the 1870 Dime Patterns envision how the proposed unified design system would translate to the ten-cent denomination. The obverse features experimental designs reflecting the standard dollar's artistic vocabulary, while the reverse explores how design elements could scale across denominations. A notable result of $28,000 in PR65 at Bowers and Merena demonstrates substantial prices for premium examples. The dime's small 17 mm format presented particular challenges — artistic details reading clearly on a 38 mm silver dollar could become illegible when reduced, requiring careful adaptation of the unified concept. The Standard Silver Patterns of 1870 remain one of the most intellectually ambitious Mint programs, attempting visual coherence across the entire silver coinage lineup in an unprecedented way. Though abandoned in favor of the Coinage Act of 1873's different approach, the surviving patterns preserve evidence of an alternative path — a unified design family spanning every silver denomination.