Lot 1171
1794 B-1, BB-1 Rarity 4. PCGS graded Fine-15. Popular and lightly toned. The date is somewhat weak. A very popular date. Small flaw on the obverse as made. Recently offered in a Heritage March 2003 sale, it was described by the cataloger thusly: "This is an unmistakable 1794 Dollar. It has a prominent pedigree marker that is impossible to miss. It appears that a piece of bent wire, approximately 10 mm. long, that starts in the middle of Liberty's neck and terminates in the field just below the neck, fell between the die and the blank planchet, leaving a distinctive impression on the finished coin. This coin was unknown to the late Jack Collins. Jack spent decades researching 1794 Dollars and tracing their pedigrees. However, this coin has remained, until recently, in the collection of Cornelius Vermeule, noted author of Numismatic Art in America. It was purchased by Vermeule from Norman Stack in the late 1960s, while Mr. Vermeule was researching coin types with Mr. Stack for his landmark book."
A mere 1,758 pieces were made this first year of issue. Somewhere under 200 are known today. It appears that early in the minting cycle, after only a few 1794 dollars were struck, the dies became misaligned which caused the date and several nearby few stars on the left to be softly impressed. (The same thing occurred on the matching area on the reverse). This is quite visible on this piece, the weak detail from skewed dies being also affected by considerable circulation wear, which left only the tops of the date digits visible. The surfaces are a natural light "old silver" hue with more saturated gray color in the areas around the design and around the margin. Numerous small abrasions are detected with the aid of a glass, but none deserve singling out.
All known strikes of this issue were made on October 15, 1794. The designs were by Robert Scot, hailing originally from England, who also personally cut the dies. At the time silver dollars were first authorized in 1794, the mint did not have a coining press powerful enough to strike a large coin like this. The main one they did have could accommodate up to large cents and half dollars. Nevertheless, this smaller press was used to strike the first American silver dollars. It was soon revealed that it could not fully strike the design on the left side of the coin (the dies being slightly misaligned). 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.
To prevent filing and clipping by the public to reduce a minted coin's weight, the earliest U.S. silver coins were designed to have an ornamented edge. In this way, the removal of silver could be detected. For the 1794 silver dollar, lettering was applied by a machine which rolled the finished planchet between two parallel steel bars, upon each of which was half of the edge lettering inscription: HUNDRED CENTS ONE DOLLAR OR UNIT and ornamentation between words (PCGS # 6851) .
Estimated Value $75,000 - 5.
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