1799 Bust Dollar Heraldic Eagle MS-65 NGC
IR Date 13 Stars B-15. BB-152 |
To have a 1799 anything with such a beautiful mint blast and unparalleled surfaces is truly a Numismatic event. This coin goes well beyond what most collectors have ever seen and I would truly advise anyone with a practiced eye to view and enjoy this coin. Nearly the finest known (there is a 66) but without question one of the Finest Seen!
The early Mint designer, Robert Scot (one t) made his original adaptations of the Great Seal of the United States in 1796 for the Quarter Eagles. It followed that a few years later he would use that basic design to improve and “professionalize” the large coinage of the Country, in this case the Bust Dollars. This brought us to the Heraldic Eagle design that has been castigated as “Tasteless Military Brag” or as a “Heroic” design depending on your taste. In any case this basic reverse was used on Eagles, Half Eagles, dismes, half dismes, Dollars and Halves, basically the whole gamut of coins produced by our mint. The processes of the Mint in the early days were quite primitive and the dies did not last long. What that has given us is a huge number of nearly unique variations on a general theme. If you study the Bolender Book (a dense tome to be sure) you will come away with a blizzard of differing types of varieties for each year that these coins were minted (1798 to 1804, yes I know no regular ones were dated in 1804 but they were produced that year anyway, just dated 1803). In 1799 alone, some 11 different Obverse dies and 17 different Reverse dies were combined to produce 23 varieties. This is a numismatists dream, variation upon variation. For the less collector minded of us, the major varieties of each date will suffice and give great enjoyment. The collection and investment in the Early Dollar Varieties is quite a rewarding venture and to own a piece of the earliest history of the United States as represented in our coinage is a great pleasure. This unparalleled specimen is one of the finest Bust Dollar by grade for the date (with the exception noted above) but the real story here is that it is one of the finest for the entire type. Major Auctions come and go (like buses nowadays) and have realized sales into the high multi-millions without a coin near this fine presented to the buyers. There are less than a half a dozen coins of any date in the Heraldic Eagle design in grades finer than this and less than two dozen to match it. |
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This specimen has a lovely; natural deep golden toning and is the 13 Arrows 7 / 6 stars regular date variety.
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To have a 1799 anything with such a beautiful mint blast and unparalleled surfaces is truly a Numismatic event. This coin goes well beyond what most collectors have ever seen and I would truly advise anyone with a practiced eye to view and enjoy this coin. Nearly the finest known (there is a 66) but without question one of the Finest Seen!

