1795 $5 BD-3, Small Eagle MS(PCGS#519852)
1795 $5 BD-3, Small Eagle MS (PCGS#519852)
The August 2013 Chicago ANA World's Fair of Money
- 拍卖行
- Stack's Bowers
- 批号
- 4470
- 等级
- AU55
- 价格
- 288,185
- 详细说明
- Attractive High-Grade 1795 Half Eagle 1795 Capped Bust Right Half Eagle. Small Eagle. BD-3. Rarity-3+. AU-55 (NGC). This is a sought-after type coin and one that is seldom found with pleasing surfaces. The soft gold planchets tended to get nicked up during circulation, so few exist with smooth and attractive devices and fields. Here is one of the few. Light coppery-russet toning accents the devices, giving the piece an attractive antique appearance. The strike is sharp too, as all of Liberty's hair curls are crisply defined and the eagle retains all of his breast and wing feathers. These early federal designs are highly desirable today. Liberty wears a cap with a wave of her hair wrapped up around the cap in a most extraordinary fashion, and no contemporary picture is known which might have led to this design by Mint Engraver Robert Scot. The reverse is of an eagle standing on a palm branch with wings outstretched and clasping a small laurel wreath in his beak. As to why no denomination was included in the design is not known, perhaps this was due to the fact that gold coins were traditionally weighed with scales to determine their value, as shaving and clipping had been so common on the gold coins in circulation in this hemisphere. Mint Engraver John Reich imparted the 5 D. to this denomination in 1807 and 2 1/2 D. to the quarter eagle in 1808. It is noteworthy that the Mint certainly did have the Castaing machine which imparted edge lettering as a device, but these gold coins were all too thin to employ this devices in a readable fashion, unlike the half and large cents, half dollars and silver dollars of this period which do have their denominations noted on their edges. Numismatic Reflections by Q. David Bowers This beautiful classic will be a highlight in any collection. It combines high grade with the status of being the first year of issue of the design and denomination. PCGS# 8066.