Lot 2024
1795. 13 leaves below eagle. . BD-1, Rarity 3+. NGC graded AU Details, obverse planchet flaw. A rather pleasing looking coin with mint caused minor planchet flaws in the left obverse field and some scattered minor marks about the rims here and there. Plenty of detail and all, overlaid with natural rose color gold toning. Popular First Year of the type and actually, our nation's first gold coin. Only 5,583 eagles struck.
Under the terms of the Coinage Act of 1792, the obverses of all the coins, copper, silver, and gold, had to depict Liberty, then as now an allegorical female figure. The reverses of the silver and gold coins had to depict an eagle. With those requirements in force, and a requirement that certain inscriptions appear on all the coins, mint engraver Robert Scot set to work in 1795 on the eagle designs.
The gold eagle obverse depicts a bust of Liberty facing right and wearing a soft cap (not the pileus or Liberty cap found on the Liberty cap half cent and cent, among other U.S. coins). Liberty's hair flows freely, down over her truncated shoulders.
LIBERTY occupies the under border above and to the right of the portrait, with stars arranged along the back of her head and from the Y in LIBERTY to the tip of the bust. The number of stars and their arrangement and exact positioning of LIBERTY vary from year to year.
The first reverse, that of 1795-97, depicts the mandatory eagle, which some believe Scot copied from a sketch or engraving of a first century A.D. onyx cameo held in a museum in Vienna. The eagle holds a small wreath aloft in its beak and a palm branch in its talons. This is the most often seen variety having 13 leaves in the palm branch. The eagle's wings are outstretched. The inscription UNITED STATES OF AMERICA encircles the design (PCGS # 8551) .
Estimated Value $20,000 - 25,000.
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