1060

[L#1060] 1799 Lg Stars $10 NGC MS64

Currency:USD Category:Everything Else / Other Start Price:30,000.00 USD Estimated At:50,000.00 - 70,000.00 USD
[L#1060] 1799 Lg Stars $10 NGC MS64
This warmly colored example displays beams of golden metallic detail in virtually all areas with surface freshness only dreamed of by most collectors of early U.S. gold. What's more, the fields and devices which support the luster are themselves remarkable for their preservation. Freedom from contact marks isn't too common with these; meanwhile, the coin has sharp-edged devices and lettering throughout, with only marginal weakness at a few of the lower stars.

Under the terms of the Coinage Act of 1792, the obverses of all the coins, copper, silver, and gold, had to depict Liberty, then as now an allegorical female figure. The reverses of the silver and gold coins had to depict an eagle, the national symbol. With those requirements, and the understanding that certain inscriptions appear on all the coins, mint engraver Robert Scot set to work in 1795 on the eagle designs.

The gold eagle obverse depicts a bust of Liberty facing right and wearing a soft cap (not the pileus or Liberty cap found on the Liberty cap half cent and cent, among other U.S. coins). Liberty's hair flows freely, down over her truncated shoulders.

LIBERTY occupies the under border above and to the right of the portrait, with stars arranged along the back of her head and from the Y in LIBERTY to the tip of the bust. The number of stars and their arrangement and exact positioning of LIBERTY vary from year to year.

Scot's reverse is a close facsimile of the Great Seal of the United States, with all the ancient heraldic symbolism proudly on display (but now sadly forgotten by virtually the whole modern generation of Americans).