2563

1802 Bust $1

Currency:USD Category:Coins & Paper Money / US Coins Start Price:17,000.00 USD Estimated At:35,000.00 - 40,000.00 USD
1802 Bust $1
1802 B-6, BB-241. PCGS graded MS-63 CAC Approved. Well struck and fully lustrous with attractive soft multi-color hues on both sides. Definitely a Premium Quality coin for the given grade. A broken T in LIBERTY, missing its right foot, is the main feature of the 1802 Narrow Date dollar. It is a variety plentiful in all grades except Mint condition, and ranks among the finest produced Draped Bust, Heraldic Eagle die varieties. For this reason alone it is one to choose for a representative Type Set or Bust Dollar date collection. Examples that grade MS63 or higher are scarcely common (see the posted PCGS census below).

The advanced collector will want to examine this piece to note its exceptional surfaces and sharp design. As an added piece of eye-candy, there is the usual die crack from the left border to the second wing feather present, there is another crack from the bottom edge of the third feather to the ribbon, crossing and impacting the P in PLURIBUS. The presence or absence of this crack aids in determining the order that six varieties were struck using this single die. According to comments by Dave Bowers made in his Silver Dollar Encyclopedia: "The production of 1801, 1802, and 1803 dollars seems to have been done with the obverse dies mixed, as evident by the primary use of just two reverse dies with a much larger number of obverses."

This piece is delightfully attractive with its silvery surfaces and frosty mint luster. The strike is bold central and peripheral details present on both sides. No annoying marks are evident with or without a glass, the surfaces being engagingly clean. A few subtle wisps of champagne toning found their way onto the surface on each side. Pop 9; 2 in 64, 5 in 65 (PCGS # 40087) .

Cheese eaters of the world Unite, you will want to mark this memorable event from the year 1802: The Cheshire Mammoth Cheese. Yes, the CMC was a gift from the town of Cheshire, Massachusetts to President Thomas Jefferson in 1802. The cheese was created by combining the milk from every cow in the town, or so the history tells us, and made in a makeshift cheese press to handle the cheese's size. The cheese bore the Jeffersonian motto "Rebellion to tyrants is obedience to God." (Imagine stamping that onto a cheese today, you'd be handcuffed as a food terrorist!)

The final product weighed between 1200 and 1600 pounds, was four feet wide, and fifteen inches thick. Due to its size, it could not safely be transported on wheels, so the town hired a sleigh to bring it to Washington, D.C. during the snowy winter months. With local church pastor John Leland steering the sleigh, the three week, 500 mile trip became an event from town to town as word spread about the gift.

The cheese was eventually presented to Jefferson on January 1, 1802. Leland considered the cheese an act of "profound respect…to the popular ratification of his election." The cheese would remain at the White House for over two years, having been featured in a public dinner for an Independence Day celebration in 1803, eventually being replaced by the "Mammoth Loaf," a large loaf of bread made by the United States Navy out of a barrel full of flour.
Estimated Value $35,000 - 40,000.