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Bust Dollars 1795 FH B-21 BB-28 Fine 12

Currency:USD Category:Everything Else / Other Start Price:NA Estimated At:5.00 - 10.00 USD
Bust Dollars 1795 FH B-21 BB-28 Fine 12

Bust Dollars 1795 Bolender-21. Bowers-Borckardt-28. Fine 12. UNLISTED IN ALL REFERENCES. Detail of Very Fine, but a number of thin pin scratches criss-cross the obverse surface. They are old and toned over, but there nevertheless, and visible with minimal magnification. The coin has attractive, uniform medium gray toning, with a couple of small darker splashes on the reverse at the eagle's head and lower left wreath. Also, there is a small dig at the eagle's tail. While we mention these blemishes for the sake of identification, quite frankly, the coin appears quite attractive.<BR><BR>This discovery die variety first appeared in Spink America's June 1997 sale, Lot 186, where it was apparently obtained many years earlier from old time St. Louis coin dealer Burdette Johnson and last appeared in Bowers and Merena's Rarities Sale 1999, Lot 235. Spink's catalogue description aptly identified this coin as a "new and unrecorded obverse die for a 1795 dollar." It is known now and future references on early dollar die varieties will list this very coin, which as of right now is still unique.<BR><BR>Bowers-Borckardt-28 is identifiable by its obverse. The reverse is shared with another long standing and nearly as rare die variety, B-16 (BB-23). Quoting the Bowers and Merena description, obverse diagnostics are: "Obverse 12. Flowing hair in six curls, the top curl turning up its end. The lowest curl forms a nearly closed circle, similar to only Obverse 4 among the Portrait 1 obverse dies. Star 1 is vertically below this curl and distant, unlike Obverse 4, which has star 1 joined to the lowest curls. Stars 1 and 2 have two points each approximately equidistant from this curl. The four middle curls are approximately equal in length, their tips nearly in vertical alignment. Second curl from the bottom points to the center of star 3. The date has the digit 5 leaning sharply left. LIBERTY is widely spaced with LI close, IB wider, BER close, and RTY slightly wider." The reverse can be identified by examining I in AMERICA, above which the point of the third outside leaf of the wreath is centered. Bolender-16 (BB-23) is also a great rarity, with only two reported examples. Struck using perfect dies.<BR><BR>Collecting early dollars by die variety is an extremely popular topic, with a legion of followers. And it has been for more than a century! The apperance of unlisted or newly discovered die combinations is a rare occurrence, indeed. In the annals of numismatics there are many rarites, but few items are classified as unique. The presence of this coin, with its huge historical and numismatic appeal is certain a landmark offering. It resided privately and undisturbed for over a half century, and once sold, may again be impounded for decades, if not permanently. Quite literally, this opportunity may never again present itself. Ex Bowers and Merena Rarities Sale, August 1999, Lot 235; Spink's America June 1997, Lot 186; B.G. Johnson, private treaty.