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1797 50C AU50 NGC. O-101a, R.5. The appearance of any

Currency:USD Category:Coins & Paper Money / US Coins Start Price:11,000.00 USD Estimated At:1.00 - 1,000,000.00 USD
1797 50C AU50 NGC. O-101a, R.5. The appearance of any
<B>1797<50C> AU50 NGC.</B></I> O-101a, R.5. The appearance of any 1797 half dollar in a public auction is bound to generate great excitement. This was the second year of a two-year type, the Draped Bust Small Eagle half dollar, which may be regarded as one of the keys to a complete type collection of American coinage.<BR> The story of the 1796-1797 Draped Bust, Small Eagle half dollars is shrouded in mystery. What we know for certain is that the Philadelphia Mint produced approximately 3,918 half dollars dated 1796 and 1797, before suspension of the denomination until 1801. By the latter date, Robert Scot's Small Eagle reverse had yielded to his Heraldic Eagle design. This fact, coupled with the limited original mintage, accounts for the importance of the 1796 and 1797 half dollars as rare type coins.<BR> In an effort to reconstruct the circumstances that surround the production of these two issues, we have relied heavily upon Breen's <I>Complete Encyclopedia</B></I> (1988), although we caution readers that even the noted numismatic author himself states that his conclusions are "presented only as conjecture, as no other Archives data survive about these mintages." It appears that the Mint produced two obverse dies (one dated 1796 and the other either undated or dated 1797) with 15 stars, sometime before the admission of Tennessee as the sixteenth state on June 1, 1796. Following the latter event, a third 1796-dated obverse was produced with 16 stars. These dies were used to produced the following pieces: (60) 1796 15 Stars examples on February 28, 1797; (874) 1796 15 Stars and 1796 16 Stars examples on March 21, 1797; and (2,984) 1797 examples on May 26, 1797. The latter issue was produced using the second die that the Mint had made prior to June 1, 1796, now definitely dated 1797. All three deliveries were made to the Bank of the United States, who had deposited French silver