Lot 2559
1796 Draped Bust Half Dime. "LIKERTY" error. NGC graded MS-65. Boldly struck with a hint of light gold toning. A wonderful type coin. Struck from clashed dies. Beautiful surfaces, color, and depth of detail, in fact, the quaity is utterly unstoppable in terms of its aesthetic beauty. On this always well-struck variety, the I in LIBERTY is very close to the L, diagnostic for the variety. Although only two die varieties are known of 1796 (the other being the overdate 6/5), the Guide Book of United States Coins continues to list three different entries for the date, including the Normal Date, the Overdate, and the LIKERTY variety. This latter issue is merely a die state of the Normal Date variety. John McCloskey and the late Russ Logan, authors of the current half dime reference, made no mention of the LIKERTY die state. This example is a later die state with several obverse and reverse cracks and die clash marks. An impressive coin in spectacular condition! Pop 2; 1 finer in 68 Star (PCGS # 94254) .
When Henry William DeSaussure became director of the Mint on July 9, 1795, in place of David Rittenhouse, there was a certain amount of criticism of the current Flowing Hair designs on the silver coins (though modern collectors generally consider the Flowing Hair design a good one). DeSaussure expedited new designs on the silver coinage.
It is not at all clear who instigated the design change although conventional wisdom, based on little more than the fact that DeSaussure happened to be Mint director at the time, says that he was responsible for the new head of Liberty, called the Draped Bust design by modern collectors ("Fillet Head" in older numismatic references). It may just as easily have been Thomas Jefferson, who, as secretary of state, was the cabinet officer in charge of Mint affairs.
Estimated Value $150,000 - 175,000.
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