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Sale 10
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Lot 843
1795 Flowing Hair Dollar. Two leaves beneath each wing. . B-10. PCGS graded VF-35. Here is a foremost rarity in any grade, and this is one of the better coins seen of the variety. For many years, collectors have mistakenly believed that this was rarity-6 or lower, but a recent in depth study published in the John Reich Journal (January 2001) by world famous numismatist W. David Perkins confirmed that this is a true rarity-7 variety. The present coin was not listed in that study, and was likely tucked away in various type collections for the last several decades. It came to us without an attribution, so the owner was likely not aware of its significance as a variety.
The coin itself has a dark arc of toning through LIBERTY and a couple of stars on the right, and is silvery gray on the rest of the obverse, the reverse is the opposite, dark tones ranging through greens, golds and dark gray on the lower eighty percent, lighter at the top. Identifiable by a small nick on the right side of the eagle's neck, and a tiny ding over the I in AMERICA. There is a small field mark above the highest curl on the back of Liberty's head and a tiny dig in the lower right obverse field. In the PCGS holder it is hard to see if the rims are clean, but they certainly have no significant bumps or bruises. In PCGS holder #3653761.
As a variety, this one is often overlooked. It shares the common obverse seen on the Bolender-1 variety with the weak curl third from the bottom. The reverse is similar to the B-1 also, but the B-1 has 10 berries on the right branch, while the B-10 has just 9 berries. In addition, the B-10 has a die lump just below the right ribbon end. This obverse die was also paired with another reverse to make the ultra rare B-16, of which just 2 coins are presently known.
This cataloger has owned 3 different examples of this variety over the last 20 years, and this is certainly one of the better ones known. The Condition Census would presently read as follows: MS60, 1949 ANA, Stack's Bareford 10/81, Stack's 400 sale, 1/88; EF40, east coast collection ex: NERCG 79 ANA sale; VF35 recently discovered and sold by J.J. Teaparty privately; VF35 the present example; VF30 Bowers Brooks Sale 6/89; VF20 ex: Bolender; VF20 O.K. Rumbel 1951; F-12 Heritage ANA 82, misattributed as B-1, scratches obverse field. The only recent sale we know of was the other VF35 coin which traded hands privately in the high four figures over a year ago. The last one of these offered at public auction was the Roland Willasch coin in 1990! With the prices of rare bust dollars dramatically increasing the past few years, we would not be surprised to see this coin bring a runaway price, which it heartily deserves.
Estimated Value $5,000-UP.
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| Realized $13,225 |
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