Lot 1323
1795 $10 Capped Bust. 13 leaves. NGC graded AU-50 BD-2, R-4+. Light even toning in a new 4 prong NGC holder. Bright yellow-gold luster on satiny surfaces that have some granularity to them due to minor abrasion contact with other coins. There is a short hairline scratch in the field between D and S on the reverse. A touch of weakness is seen at the eagle's breast and legs on the reverse, as well, but here it is probably that a design flaw is the culprit, since the high point of the opposite side lies opposite this area on Small Eagle tens of 1795-97 which often did not allow for sufficient metal flow into the deepest die recesses. The luster that remains is located around the stars and legends mainly, with a few traces of frost in the portrait. Pop 2; 24 finer. (PCGS # 8551) .
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. The eagle's wings are outstretched. The inscription UNITED STATES OF AMERICA encircles the design.
Estimated Value $55,000 - 60,000.
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| Realized $49,450 |
