Lot 2833
1794 Flowing Hair Dollar. Sharpness of VF-35. Nicely toned. Some light marks and scratches on the obverse. Weakly struck along the left side (though all four digits of the date are present), with similar soft detail along the reverse legends at 8 o'clock to 11 o'clock. The centers are sharp and nicely detailed. Rims, too, are in excellent condition, free of marks or bumps.
The dies for this world-famous rarity were made by Mint Engraver Robert Scot. On November 23, 1793, Secretary of State Thomas Jefferson, who was in charge of the affairs of the Mint, wrote to Scot and sent him a commission to be engraver at the Mint. Scot took on the job of cutting the dies for coinage, including this 1794 Flowing Hair dollar. In November 1794, John Smith Gardner was hired as his assistant, but by this time the initial delivery of silver dollars had been accomplished. (Probably, Gardner worked on some of the 1795 and later dies.)
All known strikes of this key date silver dollar were made on October 15, 1794. The designs are by Robert Scot, hailing originally from England, who also personally cut the dies. All silver specimens known to us show weakness in the strike at the left obverse and reverse due to skewing or oblique alignment of the dies; the unique copper specimen with lettered edge, apparently intended as a Proof or Pattern, does not show this skewing and therefore may have been struck first or on a separate occasion. It is possible that a few silver strikes were made before the skewing occurred and thus would have a full strike at the left sides, but we cannot recall having seen any, nor do we have any record of sale of such a specimen (PCGS # 6851) .
Estimated Value $70,000 - 80,000.
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