23486

1796 S$1 Small Date, Small Letters. B-2, BB-63, R.4. X 1796[S$1] Small Date, Small Letters. B-2, BB-

Currency:USD Category:Coins & Paper Money / US Coins Start Price:1.00 USD Estimated At:1.00 - 1,000,000.00 USD
1796 S$1 Small Date, Small Letters. B-2, BB-63, R.4. X 1796[S$1] Small Date, Small Letters. B-2, BB-
<B>1796<S$1> Small Date, Small Letters. B-2, BB-63, R.4. XF45 NGC.</B></I> Small, wide date, evenly spaced; Berry under A in STATES. Reiver die state a. Bowers-Borckardt die state I. This is the Reiver plate coin for the obverse of this variety. A lovely example of this scarce die pairing, with steel gray fields and lighter silver on the devices. As often seen, the reverse is slightly off center, in this case toward 10 o'clock. The dies were apparently misaligned, and many examples of this variety have the reverse die slightly off center seemingly randomly in any direction while the obverse is usually well centered. Fully struck, and free of adjustment marks or rim bumps. There is a small nest of nicks which reside under the right wing of the eagle, above his tail, and a loupe will discover these otherwise unimportant surface inhabitants.<BR> This variety is scarce, almost "rare" but is generally found in sufficient quantities to satisfy collector demand, hence sells for little or no premium over the current type coin price. Nevertheless, this die pairing is vastly more difficult to obtain than the B-4, BB-61 or B-5, BB-65 varieties of 1796. This particular coin is probably near or just within the lower end of the Condition Census for the variety, which includes a reported Mint State example, and a few others ranked as About Uncirculated. A cluster of several XF40-45 coins are known which would be technically tied with the present example.<BR> In Jules's book<I> The United States Early Silver Dollars 1794 to 1803</B></I> he questioned whether the 1796 B-3, BB-62 variety existed. Jules had found an otherwise close match to the diagnostics of this variety at the FUN show many years ago. When he carefully checked out the coin in question, it turned out to have strategically placed damage which mimicked the diagnostic raised die lump over the 1 in the date, and was not this variety. Add to this the frustration of having seen several misattributed examples of the B-3, BB-62 1796 dollars offered in listings and auctions, and the general consensus became that this variety was an error, and perhaps Bolender and Haseltine had seen the same coin which Jules had seen at the FUN show. In Jules's book, he stated that he believed this variety did not exist, and that "In any event, I've stuck out my head, so chop it off if you find a real one". As fate would have it, two examples have turned up of the B-3, BB-62 variety, one apparently a new discovery, the other was the coin from the Stack's Strauss (April, 1959) and later the W. Earl Spies (December, 1974) sale. The first to come to auction was on September 11, 2001, but this sale was delayed by the horrific events of that sad day. By that time, Jules had stopped collecting coins. Any specialist can easily understand that after 20+ years of looking, if a certain variety is never confirmed, and several misattributed examples are offered, that one would naturally question if any true examples are out there. Thankfully, no one needs to chop anyone's head off, especially not Jules Reiver's! One of the great joys of collecting is that even experts are constantly learning, finding new die states, die varieties and coins which defy explanation. Such discoveries are what keep numismatics alive and well.<BR><I>No pedigree information included.</B></I> Envelope Included.