Lot 1599
1800. B-5, BB-189. Rarity 5. NGC graded EF-40. Mostly untoned. The surface quality is consistently choice from centers to peripheries over both sides, primarily light to medium silver-gray. Well centered on a problem-free planchet, all the major design elements show either completely or nearly so. Typical light strike on the central hair curls and above the shield where the designs high points offer less room for error when the dies come together. It is always wise to recall that these early Bust coins were struck on a press operated manually. A large, heavy T-shaped boom with weights on the ends was swung by a burly mint worker. The screw-shaped gear with die attached then quickly slammed down (in a squeezing motion) against the opposite die that was set in the base of the coining press. No records exist of how much pressure it required to strike a Bust silver dollar. But we know from Mint records a century later that the requisite force on a Morgan silver dollar was approximately 150 tons pressure per square inch! (Also, the proper annealing or softening of the planchets before striking affected the process, as the New Orleans Mint discovered around 1900 when it tried to process too many blank planchets through its limited furnaces. Proper annealing allowed for better metal flow into the die recesses.)Pop 2; 7 finer for the variety. Estimated Value $4,000 - 4,400
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| Realized $4,370 |
