LOT Old Heritage Auctions  /  2008 April Rosemont, IL (CSNS) US Coin #1104  / 

2053

1799 $1 7x6 Stars MS63 ANACS

Currency:USD Category:Coins & Paper Money / US Coins Start Price:20,000.00 USD Estimated At:1.00 - 1,000,000.00 USD
1799 $1 7x6 Stars MS63 ANACS
<B>1799 $1 7x6 Stars MS63 ANACS.</B></I> B-11, BB-161, R.3. Die State III. The Obverse 4 of this variety was first used to strike the BB-156 die pairing (which shows clash marks), then the BB-161 through BB-164 varieties. The Reverse I was also used to strike several previous varieties, during which time two die lappings served to efface the berries from the branch on the reverse, leading to the No Berries reverse seen on the present pairing and the BB-160. <BR> The present coin is a perfect demonstration of why some numismatists prefer the term "die stage" to "die state." After all--and this truism persists to this day of modern high-speed coinage--<I>each blow of a die produces at least some change in that die, no matter how small or imperceptible.</B></I> At certain points, when enough changes are visible, coins struck from that die are said to be from a given die state--a discrete and frozen moment in time, a defined increment of a given size. But in between those defined increments are all the intermediate die stages, truly a continuum rather than a series of discrete steps.<BR> Here is the Bowers-Borckardt <I>Silver Dollar Encyclopedia </B></I>description of Die State III (italics added for emphasis):<BR><BR>"Die State III: Cracks enlarge, and now crack from border goes through wing, star, eagle's head, and now continues upward behind head. Crack from D to ribbon now continues downward along edge of eagle's wing to shield (and is remarkably similar to a crack on 1799/8 BB-143). New crack goes from arrow feathers upward through UNITE to border. <I>This die state, or a slightly less advanced version of it,</B></I> is the state most often seen for BB-161."<BR><BR> In the case of the present coin, while the cited crack extends to the eagle's head, it does not yet extend upward behind the head, and yet the rest of the coin fulfills all of the "state" definition given by Bowers and Borckardt. Both sides of this strictly Mint State piece demonstrate lustrous, fairly prooflike surfaces, with light tinges of gold in the fields, deepening to sunset-orange near the rims, and with steel-blue on the obverse highpoints. This stunning coin is undoubtedly at or near the top of the Condition Census for the variety.<BR><I>Ex: Stack's (12/1998), lot 1405.</B></I><BR><I>From The Queller Family Collection of Silver Dollars.</B></I><BR><BR><b>Shipping:</b> Coins & Currency (<a target="_blank" href="http://www.heritageauctions.com/common/shipping.php">view shipping information</a>)
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