Lot 4000
1794 Flowing Hair Dollar. . BB-1, Bolender-1. NCS graded Details of VF-20. Repaired and damaged. Nicely toned on both sides. Small obverse marks. The mintages were small throughout 1794-1803 because little demand existed domestically for silver dollars. 1794 is, of course, the most famous date among regular issues (with the 1804-dated bust dollars being something else entirely). The First United States Mint when it opened for operations in 1793 struck coins to order, for the most part. Bankers and others deposited silver and gold with the Mint, which the Mint's workers turned into coinage and then delivered to the owners of the precious metals. Only 1,758 silver dollars were minted in 1794.
Those depositing silver with the Mint had a preference for half dollars over the silver dollars, ordering more of the smaller denomination than the larger. As best as we can tell, the dollar denomination was too large for daily transactions but too low-value for convenient transportation or storage of large sums of money (gold did a better job at this). Many 1794-1803 silver dollars were later melted.
In 1794, the mint did not have a coining press powerful enough to strike Dollar-size coins. The largest press it had was used for large cents and half dollars. Therefore, this press is the one chosen to strike the first American silver dollars. It was soon discovered that it was not up to the job, leaving part of the design on the left side of the coin (the dies being slightly misaligned) weak and indistinct. Although the left hand stars and upper portion of the left side reverse letters are normally weakly impressed, they are completely visible to the naked eye. The coin offered in this lot, while slightly injured in its travels, is nevertheless a desirable addition to any specialized collection of early United States silver coinage (PCGS # 6851) .
Estimated Value $70,000 - 80,000.
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