Lot 914
1801. B-2, BB-212, Rarity 3. PCGS graded EF-40. Nice blue and gold toning on the edges. Only 54,454 struck. Highly lustrous still within Liberty’s hair waves and largely smooth surfaced with splendid topmost highlights on both sides. All but fully struck for such an early issue, with just an insubstantial touch of weakness at the eagle’s head and neck feather which hardly matters at all. E PLURIBUS UNUM is complete and the ribbon on which it is inscribed nicely separated from the lower design. The coin has a fairly substantial advantage over 99% of similarly graded specimens that might compete with it for your attention and/or bid. Pop 1; 7 finer at PCGS for the variety. (PCGS # 40084) .
Historic note: "To the shores of Tripoli." There is at the moment a lot of discussion about undeclared wars. That is nothing new, however. America’s first such undeclared war took place in 1801, the year of this handsome Draped Bust silver dollar. Conflict with the North African port city of Tripoli began when the Pasha of Tripolitania cut down the flagpole at the U. S. Consulate, a major diplomatic slur, after the U. S. refused to pay tribute to pirates along the Barbary Coast. Later, on the night of February 16, 1804, Lieut. Stephen Decatur and his daredevil crew, with the full permission of President Thomas Jefferson, slipped aboard the captured American ship Philadelphia as it lay docked in Tripoli harbor, knifed the guards, set the ship afire by using gunpowder, and rowed safely away. Finally, in 1805, the U. S. consul in Tunis, William Eaton, collected a rabble army in Egypt-consisting of 38 Greeks, 300 Arabs, a dethroned pasha, and 7 marines under Lieut. Preston N. O'Bannon, and marched 600 miles across the desert to attack Tripoli from the rear. The phrase "To the shores of Tripoli" in the U.S. Marines' hymn refers to this incident.
Estimated Value $5,000 - 5,500.
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