Lot 2782
1795 Draped Bust Dollar. Centered bust. PCGS graded EF-45. Nicely toned on both sides, with struck with very attractive surface condition, color, eye-appeal. In the late autumn of 1795, Gilbert Stuart's new draped bust motif was introduced. The first pair of dollar dies made was employed to strike the variety known as BB-51. The obverse depicted Liberty in draped bust form, with the motif off-center to the left. On all subsequent obverse dies, Liberty was more central. The reverse was of a new style as well, with a small eagle perched on a cloud, an olive branch to the left and a palm branch to the right. The words UNITED STATES OF AMERICA were placed around the periphery, widely spaced, and in small letters; what numismatists call the "Small Eagle, Small Letters reverse."
To create a souvenir of the occasion of issuing the first specimens from the first dies of the new design, prooflike presentation coins, perhaps even qualifying as full Proofs, were struck by the Mint. In 1980 the Bowers company catalogued the Garrett Collection specimen for the Johns Hopkins University. Described as a Proof, this piece is similar to that general style enumerated by Walter H. Breen in his Encyclopedia of United States and Colonial Proof Coins. While the present specimen is lightly circulated and not a Proof, it does share the same historic underpinnings with that fabled rarity. Pop 41; 32 finer. (PCGS # 6858) .
Estimated Value $8,000 - 8,500.
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| Realized $8,050 |
