1805 Draped Bust Dime
Circulation strike struck at the Philadelphia Mint · 120,780 made
- Mintage
- 120,780
- Metal
- 89.24% silver, 10.76% copper
- Weight
- 2.7 g
- Diameter
- 19 mm
Original illustration. Tap to flip. Not a photograph of the actual coin.
Face value · Metal value · Small premium · Collector premium · Significant rarity. We use bands because prices change daily.
What is an 1805 Draped Bust Dime worth?
Few coins in the series are harder to find. Even a worn 1805 sells well above face value. The flip side is that counterfeits and altered dates are common, so authentication matters.
What would make yours worth more:
- Uncirculated condition with full original luster
- A die variety or minting error
- Certification by PCGS or NGC, which buyers expect for scarce dates
For market prices, check recent sold results for certified coins in the same grade.
Quick answers
- Is the 1805 Draped Bust Dime rare?
- Yes. Only 120,780 were made, 9th lowest of the 10 regular issues in the series.
- Is the 1805 Draped Bust Dime silver?
- Yes. It's 89.24% silver, 10.76% copper and holds 0.0775 troy ounces of pure silver.
- Where is the mint mark on an 1805 Draped Bust Dime?
- No mint mark. Every Draped Bust dime was struck in Philadelphia.
- Which Philadelphia dates near 1805 are scarcer?
- The 1804 at 8,265, the 1802 at 10,975, the 1800 at 21,760, plus 2 more. So the 1805 is one of the easier dates of its stretch.
- How many 1805 Draped Bust Dime coins were made?
- 120,780.
What to check on your 1805
- There's no mint mark on this one, so the date and condition are what matter.
- Check the date and mint mark under magnification for tooling or added letters. Scarce dates are the ones forgers alter.
- Don't clean it. Cleaning leaves fine scratches and an unnatural shine that collectors avoid.
- Old coins pick up damage over a long life. Look for holes, bends, scratches or signs of cleaning before you judge the grade, because a damaged coin sells for a fraction of a problem-free one.
- Judge the grade under good light. Look at the hair above Liberty's forehead and the folds of drapery at her shoulder. On the reverse check the eagle's breast and wing tips.
Never clean it. Collectors pay strong premiums for original surfaces and natural toning on a date like this. A cleaned coin can lose half its value or more. Low-mintage dates attract altered and counterfeit coins. Check that the date have not been tooled or added, or buy one already certified by PCGS or NGC.
The story of the 1805
Philadelphia ramped up hard in 1805: 120,780 coins, about 15 times the 1804 run. After that, Philadelphia didn't make another until 1807.
No other mint struck it for circulation that year, so every 1805 you find is from Philadelphia. In the whole series, its mintage sits closest to the 1807 (165,000) and the 1801 (34,640).
Philadelphia struck the Draped Bust Dime in 10 issues between 1796 and 1807. By mintage this one lands in the more common half, while the key for that mint is the 1804 (8,265). Within the 1800s it's 6th smallest of 7, between the 1801 (34,640) and the 1807 (165,000).
The 1804 key and the last Draped Bust dimes (1804 to 1807)
The 1804 is the key of the series, with a delivery total of 8,265. It comes with two reverses. One has thirteen stars above the eagle and the other has fourteen stars. The fourteen star die was also used to strike quarter eagles, a sign of how freely the Mint shared dies in these years. Both 1804 varieties are significant rarities.
Mintages then rose sharply. Philadelphia struck 120,780 dimes in 1805, with four berries or five berries on the olive branch. No dimes are dated 1806. In 1807 the Mint delivered 165,000, the largest total of the type. These two dates are by far the most available Draped Bust dimes and the usual choice for a heraldic eagle type coin.
No dimes were struck in 1808. John Reich's Capped Bust design took over in 1809. Silver depositors chose which coins the Mint made from their metal and most asked for half dollars, so small coins were struck only now and then. Each die marriage of 1805 and 1807 is listed in the JR reference and some are much rarer than others. For the 1805, count the berries on the branch. For any date in this group, check the surfaces for cleaning or tooling and the edge for reeding, since some survivors were made into jewelry. Expect a soft strike on the eagle and the stars.
How to recognize it
Liberty faces right with her hair loosely tied by a ribbon, curls falling behind her neck and drapery across her bust. LIBERTY runs along the top, the date sits below the bust and stars fill both sides: fifteen in 1796, sixteen or thirteen in 1797 and thirteen from 1798 on. The 1796 and 1797 reverse shows a small eagle with raised wings standing on clouds inside an open wreath tied with a bow, ringed by UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. From 1798 the reverse carries the heraldic eagle, with a shield on its breast, arrows and an olive branch in its claws, a ribbon reading E PLURIBUS UNUM in its beak and stars under an arc of clouds. No denomination appears anywhere, so the size of about 19 millimeters and the reeded edge are what identify it.
Mintage chart
Specifications
| Series | Draped Bust Dime (1796–1807) |
|---|---|
| Year | 1805 |
| Mint | Philadelphia Mint |
| Mint mark | None |
| Strike type | Circulation strike |
| Mintage | 120,780 |
| Face value | 10¢ |
| Composition | 89.24% silver, 10.76% copper |
| Weight | 2.7 grams |
| Diameter | 19 mm |
| Edge | Reeded |
| Silver content | 0.0775 troy oz (2.409 g) |
| Designer | Robert Scot |
Mintage: US Mint records as published in standard references, each figure checked against at least two independent sources. How we build these pages.