Silver Dollars & Trade Dollars of the United States - A Complete Encyclopedia
Q. David Bowers
The Burghoff Specimen. EF-45 •• Superior, 1980: 275. "EF-45, choice prooflike EF specimen without a flaw."
The Wyatt Specimen. EF-40 .• Superior, Wyatt Collection, 1985: 2006. "EF-45+, well struck on a planchet which exhibits plenty of semi-reflective mint surfaces; high grade problem-free specimen; attractive golden gray tone." • H.W. Blevins Collection, Superior, 1988: 3565, there called EF-40. • Y olanda Gross Collection.
Rothert Specimen. EF-40 .• Matthew Rothert Collection (Bowers and Ruddy 1973): 919. EF. Spies Specimen. EF-40 •• Spies Collection (Stack's, 1974): 18. EF.
Haseltine Specimen. EF-40 .• Haseltine Collection sold in 1881. EF.
• POPULATION DISTRIBUTION:
Approximate population MS-65 or better: 0 (URS-0)
Approximate population MS-64: 0 (URS-0)
Approximate population MS-63: 1 or 2 (URS-1)
Approximate population MS-60 to 62: 2 to 4 (URS-2)
Approximate population AU-50 to 58: 5 to 10 (URS-4)
Approximate population VF-20 to EF-45: 80 to 130 (URS-8)
Approximate population G-4 to F-15: 4 to 8 (URS-3)
Approximate population for all grades combined: 100 to150 (URS-8)
• CONDITION CENSUS: 63-60-60-55-55-50 (multiples)
1795 Flowing Hair. BB-25.
Obv: Portrait II (Head of '95)
Rev: Eagle II, Wreath II (3 leaves)
(B-6 a.k.a, B-21)
Note: Die State I of BB-25 is anew discovery not known to Haseltine and Bolender, and differs from the traditional or "old" B-6 and H-6 (for which see Die State III below). The present BB-25, Die State I, was earlier called B-18 (in 1952) and B-21 (later). What is now called B-18 is a different variety; and there is no B-21.
• OBVERSE 7: See description under 1795 BB-24. Obverse die used to strike 1795 BB-24 (early state) and BE- 25 (early and late states).
• REVERSE J: Three leaves under each wing of eagle. 13 berries, seven on left branch, six on right. Two berries under first T in STATES, one on inside and one on outside of wreath. Die State I has three leaves visible below first S of STATES (early state of die, probably with 4th leaf depression in die filled with foreign matter). Die State III with four leaves; also used in its later state to coin BB-26 and BB-27, each of which has four leaves beneath the first S of STATES.
Reverse die used to strike 1795 BB-25 (two states; Die State I with three leaves and Die State III with four leaves under first S in STATES; presumably, one of the leaf recesses in the die was clogged, thus preventing one leaf from striking up), BB-26 (later state with four leaves under first S in STATES), and BB-27 (later state with four leaves under first S in STATES).
• DIE STATES:
Die State I: Dies without cracks. Obverse die unlapped (i.e., in an early state). Three leaves on reverse in the cluster below the first S in STATES. Early state of obverse and reverse dies. This die state was discovered by Frank M. Stirling of Baton Rouge, Louisiana, and was reported by M.H. Bolender in the December 1952 issue of The Numismatist. At the time it was considered to be from an entirely new die, and the designation "Bolender-18" was given to it (later, it became known as Bolender-18); all this time it acquired a special aura as a great rarity, until it was realized that it was simply a die state of a standard variety known for many years. It is still very rare, but as a die state, not a separate die variety. (During the preparation of this book, the 3-leaf and 4-leaf situation became a point of discussion when it was realized that conven-tional wisdom (per 5th edition of the Bolender book, and other writing) was that this reverse die was made with three leaves under the first S of STATES, but in a later state, a 4th leaf was added. As Thomas K. DeLorey and Harry Salyards, M.D. pointed out, and as the author and Mark Borckardt had been contemplating, it defied all known Mint practice of the era to add an extra leaf or similar feature to an already work-hardened die. This would have been a complicated process which hardly would have been undertaken to "fix" something as innocuous as a cluster of leaves. Mark Borckardt finally said in a note to the author, "Thou shalt not overlook the obvious" and proposed that a piece of foreign matter clogged one leaf in the die, a basic situation which has occurred many times throughout American coinage history, and which has caused various design elements, mintmarks, etc., to be weak or to disappear.)
Die State II. Clash marks in obverse fields.
Die State III: Obverse die relapped (i.e., in a later state than Die State I). The relapping was especially severe and shortened the curls; lowest curl now ends in a point between two points of star, and is near star. Traces of erroneous R under E of LIBERTY now mostly ground away. An engraving tool was used to strengthen the bottom tail of R. Reverse: A fourth leaf is now seen in the cluster below the first S in STATES on the reverse; presumably, the die became unclogged. This die state used to be catalogued as Bolender-6 and Haseltine-6. Common.
• AUCTION POPULATION SURVEY: (Die State III coins) Less than Good: 1, Good: 1, Very Good: 4, Fine: 11, Very Fine: 21, Extremely Fine: 14, About Uncirculated: 5, Mint State-60 or better: 7. Total: 64.