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Lot 1598
1799/8. 15 stars on reverse. B-3, BB-141. Rarity 3. NGC graded AU-58. Nice bold strike and mostly untoned. A glistening AU58 with luster topping that seen on many nominally Mint State Bust Dollars; the smooth white frost practically flies off the surface! An absence of toning brings out the expansiveness of the smooth field along with all the bold detail. Unexpectedly beautiful eye appeal on this coin! One would be hard put to find a more truly beautiful 1799 15 Star specimen in the grade, one of the popular Red Book issues with not even a smidgen of softness on the centers. Complete stars increase the impressive appearance. Pop 5; 6 finer for the variety, 1 in 61, 3 in 62, 2 in 64.
Die Notes: 1799, last 9 punched over previous 8, and definitive as such; the only overdate die of the year. Last 9 of date very close to bust.
We append the description of this celebrated reverse from the Breen-Borkhardt reference on Bust Dollars to further clarify how such a strange coin happened: "15 stars on reverse; this is definitive, although to the uninitiated the two extra stars are not readily seen, at least at first. The two supernumerary stars are nearly lost in cloud 1 and cloud 8, and just the points show. The one protruding from the bottom of cloud 1 is the most easily seen. The result is a blundered arc pattern of stars with five (instead of six) stars in the top row, six (instead of five) in the second row, and the usual one to each side of the eagle's head, plus the superfluous star points peeking out from the bottoms of clouds 1 and 8.
"The process was accomplished as follows: The engraver first punched seven stars in the top row, six in the second row, and the normal single stars to each side of the eagle's head. He then took count and realized that he had one too many stars in the top row, and one too many stars in the second row, for a total of 15. To disguise his blunder, he enlarged clouds 1 and 8, making them greatly oversized to cover up the first and last stars in the top row, reducing the count to an abnormal five (instead of the normal six), so that the abnormal six (instead of five) in the second row would not have to be altered. The normal star arrangement, top to bottom, is: 6-5-2. Before alteration, this reverse die was 7-6-2. After alteration, it was 5-6-2.
"Leaf point under left upright of I in America. Die crack near border above ATES. Another crack above OF AM. The D in UNITED is repunched and there are die flaws in the right side of this letter. Far right edge of A is over cloud 3. Reverse usually not fully struck up at the center, due to sinking of the die."
Die state progressions reveal that the 1799/8 overdates, which are die linked to regular 1799 dollars, were struck after certain regular or perfect date (non-overdate) pieces were made. The overdates are listed first here, following numismatic tradition. Reverse die used to strike 1799 BB-141 (later use with 1799/8 overdate obverse) and 1799 BB-153 (earlier use with non-overdated obverse). Estimated Value $11,000 - 12,000
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| Realized $9,430 |
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