Q. David Bowers
The following commentary is by Walter H. Breen: (Breen commentaries. are those either created especially for this book or are from Walter Breen's Complete Encyclopedia of u.s.and Colonial Coins. ) It is known that Thomas Bingham cut a new 8 punch (small 8 for the Pointed 9 obverse coins), and that Mint Director Elias Boudinot paid him 50 cents for it on February 1, 1798; no one knows when obverses bearing it were used.
Type fonts/shield element lines: The Large Letters type punch font, first used on '1796 Draped Bust/Small Eagle dollars with Large Letters reverse, and distinguished by having slightly larger letters than used later in 1798, and in later years through 1803, was employed on two 1798 Heraldic Eagle reverse dies. These two dies each produced two' varieties: 1798 BB-91 and BB-92 (from the first die) and BB-96 and BB-101 (from the other). It seems a virtual certainty that these were the first Heraldic Eagle reverse dies made in 1798, after which the Large Letters punches Were abandoned in favor of the new Small Letters punches.
This chronology is further borne out by their use (except BB-101) with Knob 9 obverses. BB-101-a Large Letters reverse mated with a Pointed Tail 9 obverse-indicates that dies were not always employed in the order in which they were made; this variety was struck later in the year;
Inspection will show that certain letters in the Large Letters font can be quickly recognized. The A in the Large Letters font has a larger interior space in the top than does the later Small Letters font, and is beveled at the upper left top of the letter. The S in the Large Letters font is more open, the C is larger and more open, and certain other letters display minor differences.
The two Large Letters reverses have another distinguishing feature, further strengthening the claim that they were the first made of the Heraldic Eagle type: Each vertical element in the shield is composed of five lines, whereas on all other 1798 reverses, and all other Heraldic Eagle reverses through the end of the early dollar series, each vertical element has just four lines. (This five-lines characteristic was first pointed out to the author by Thomas K. DeLorey, letter dated January 13, 1993.)
Among other features, the Small Letters font has a lopsided T, with the left serif shorter than the right. This Small Letters set of punches remained on hand at the Mint for many years, and in the 1830s it was used to create two Heraldic Eagle reverse dies as well as Draped Bust obverse dies dated 1802, 1803, and 1804 (details are given in chapters 5 and 6).
E PLURIBUS UNUM letters: The letters in E PLURIBUS UNUM vary in their apparent size (caused by different sizes of letter punches or the depth they were punched into the ribbon) and placement on certain varieties. Points of difference include the shapes and proportions of such letters as P, R, S, and U. Placement differences to note are the position of the U and S in PLURIBUS with regard to the edge of the eagle's neck on the left, and the placement of the N in UNUM in relation to the edge of the eagle's neck on the right. In general, letters in the motto were smaller in 1798 and 1799, and larger from 1800 onward. A challenge for the future is to catalogue the Heraldic Eagle punches using this and other features.
Reverse star patterns: The arrangement of the 13 stars above the eagle's head on the reverse can be divided into two separate styles for 1798:
• Arc star pattern: The stars are arranged in arcs, the topmost having six stars arranged in an arc and being closest to the clouds, the second having five stars arranged in an arc concentric below the first, and the two extra stars being one to the left of the eagle's head arid the other to the right. The arc pattern dies were cut earlier than the line pattern dies, it would seem from their general use in earlier die combinations. In nearly all instances, the arc patterns were punched into the die in a pleasing manner. An exception is the reverse of 1798 BB-121, which has the leftmost star in the second arc too high and out of place. The arc pattern was the standard for certain silver and gold denominations through the year 1807. On silver dollars, the arc pattern was used on some 1798 dies, as noted here, all 1799 dies except one (1799 BB-182, the reverse of which was coined from a 1798 line star-pattern die used to coin 1798 BB-123 and 1798 BB-124), and all issues from 1800 onward.
The following 1798-dated silver dollar varieties have the arc pattern to the stars:
1798 BB-94, BB-95, BB-102 to BB-113, BB-116 to BB-118, BB-121, and BB-125.
• Line star pattern: This "line" pattern arrangement is called the "cross" pattern by Robert P. Hilt III and Walter H. Breen. The stars above the eagle are arranged in lines that are more or less straight, with the star directly over the eagle's head being the center of a flattened X.
I recognize the line star pattern as three stars in a straight line beneath the clouds on the left, no star directly under cloud 4, and three more stars in a straight line beneath the clouds on the right; the straight lines are parallel to the cloud bottoms and are at an angle to each other. Below this pair of angled straight lines is a "peak" formed of five stars, peaking at the center (the star directly over the eagle's head). The two extra stars are arranged to the left of the eagle's head and the other to the right (as also on the arc style).
The line pattern of star arrangement appears on a few silver dollars dated 1798 and one dated 1799 (from a leftover 1798 reverse die) and on certain other denominations. Apparently, this arrangement was found to be unsatisfactory, for it was soon discontinued. To my eye, the line pattern is not as pleasing as the arc pattern. Breen notes that the 14- star "line pattern" dies used on the 1804 quarter eagles and the 1804-1805 dimes have the same letter punches of those of 1798, suggesting they were left over. The following 1798-dated silver dollar varieties have the line pattern to the stars:
1798 BB-91 to BB-93, BB-96, BB-101, BB-114, BB-115, BB- 119, BB-120, BB-122 to BB-124.
1799 BB-182 also has the line star pattern and was struck from the reverse die used to coin 1798 BB-123 and BB-124; all other 1799 dollars have the arc star pattern.
Arrows styles: The arrows held by the eagle on the reverse can be grouped into two major categories as follows:
• Early style arrows: The four highest arrows on the right consist of, left to right, a fully developed arrow, a partially developed arrow or sometimes just a stick, and then two fully developed arrows. The three leftmost arrows consist of a stick or poorly developed arrow (which is the longest of the three), then two progressively shorter, fully developed arrows to the left. 1798 dollars with early style arrows include these:
1798 BB-91 to BB-96, BB-101, BB-102, BB-107, BB-108, BB-121, and BB-125.