Lot 974
1796 Draped Bust Dollar. Small date, large letters. PCGS graded Fine-15. Small Date, Large Letters Natural light to medium gray, relatively mark-free surfaces display old-silver color, with the overall appearance greatly bolstered by the strong devices. Regarding this date, the estimated mintage of 75,000 1796-dated dollars (of various die varieties combined, each of the draped bust type) is less than that of the estimated mintage of 110,000 Draped Bust dollars coined with the date 1795. Bowers, in his silver dollar encyclopedia, advances the opinion "that many if not most 1796-dated pieces were struck later, in 1798. Much of the calendar year mintage of 75,212 dollars struck in 1796 were probably dated 1795. I believe that mintage during the first part of calendar year 1798 consisted in large part of dollars dated 1795, 1796, and 1797."
The Mint experienced various difficulties in 1796, including a yellow fever epidemic. Coinage was anything but easy. On June 1, 1796, Tennessee was admitted to the Union as the 16th state. While other denominations reflected this, 16 stars were not used on silver dollars until 1797, which suggests that obverse dies for 1796-dated dollars were made prior to June. As to the number of dies used in 1796, there were 4 obverses and 4 reverses (including one left over from 1795) (PCGS # 6860) .
Estimated Value $3,000 - 3,200.
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| Realized $3,680 |
