Silver Dollars & Trade Dollars of the United States - A Complete Encyclopedia

1798 Heraldic Eagle

Varieties

1798 Knob 9; Heraldic Eagle. BB-91.

Line star pattern on reverse.
Large Letters reverse, 5 lines in each shield element.
(B-32.)
• OBVERSE 2: See description under 1798 BB-82. 13 stars.

Obverse die used to strike 1798 BB-82 (earlier use) and BB-91 (later use).

• REVERSE C: Large Letters reverse from 1796 type font (larger interior space in A, open S, etc.); 5 lines in each vertical shield element. This was one of the first Heraldic Eagle reverse dies cut in early 1798. Upper part of eagle's beak touches ray of star slightly in from its tip; star points to upper left serif of U in PLURIBUS. Line star pattern. Three stars on left between eagle's beak and clouds are more in a slightly curved line than in form of a triangle. Leftmost star is puny and undersized. Two eagle claw nails show within talons. Leaf points close to left corner of! in AMERICA, and 4th outside leaf tip is under right base of R in AMERICA. Tip of branch points to tip of rightmost tail feather (compare to reverses of BB-117 and BB-118, the only other 1798 reverses in which this is the case). Berry fairly close to right side of serif of left foot of A. Only 10 perfect arrows, one faint arrow, and two sticks (one of which extends to below center of I in UNITED). Three rightmost perfect arrows each have other arrows on top of them, with arrowheads visible part way down shafts. Raised die defects at AT in STATES.

Reverse die used to strike 1798 BB-91 (earlier use) and BB-92 (later use).

• DIE STATES:
Die State I: Obverse: Earlier state of the preceding. May not exist.

Die State II: Obverse: With failure at stars 6 and 7 and at base of L in LIBERTY. Faint die crack from ribbon to rim, between 3rd and 4th stars, another minute crack just left of 8 in date, from rim to bust, and another farther to the right, near the drapery end, from the center of a denticle.

• AUCTION POPULATION SURVEY: Good: 1, Fine: 4, Very Fine: 4, Extremely Fine: 2. Total: II. (Average grade: F-19)

• COLLECTING NOTES: I estimate that about 10 to 20 exist of the variety here described as BB-91. The record is not clear on these, for over the years the appellation "Bolender-32," equivalent to BB-91, has been assigned to a number of different unusual and/ or otherwise unlisted issues.

This obverse was earlier mated with a Small Eagle reverse (style of 1795-1798) to create BB-82, a variety minted early in 1798. Accordingly, BB-91 was probably one of the earliest varieties struck with the Heraldic Eagle reverse.

• NOTABLE SPECIMENS:
Kagin Specimen. EF-40 .• Kagin's, ANA Convention Sale, 1983: 2671. "EF-40 with light even wear and light shades of gray toning with traces of golden highlights. Slightly weak at 1:00. It appears some foreign substance was struck with the planchet resulting in a narrow, somewhat vertical, incuse area in hair of Liberty. Accompanied with ANACS certificate grading EF-40/40 and a description as having a Bolender-1 obverse, Bolender-4 reverse." • Yolanda Gross Collection.

Boyd Specimen. VF-20 •• Numismatic Gallery, World's Greatest Collection, F.C.C. Boyd, 1945: 59. "Haseltine-32. A reverse die crack extends from cloud under OF through 2 stars below it to right wing of eagle. VF."

Brooks Specimen. VF-20 •• Bowers and Merena Galleries, Brooks Collection, 1989: 218. "VF-20. Toned in a pleasing pearl gray shade with light champagne and lilac highlights. On the obverse the 6th and 7th stars and the L in LIBERTY are lightly struck, a feature which is entirely due to the failure of the obverse die in the area behind Miss Liberty's head."

Baldenhofer Specimen. F-15 .• W.G. Baldenhofer to Stack's, Farish-Baldenhofer Sale, 1955 • A.J. Ostheimer, 3rd Collection Superior Galleries, ANA Convention Sale, 1975: 853. "Unlisted. Rev. of Bolender-4,' obverse similar to Bolender-L Minor die failure at sixth and seventh stars and L of LIBERTY. A curious tiny die crack from point of farthest ribbon, extending left, crossing lower right point of the fourth star, and ending up through the two upper left points of the third star. There also appears to be two even more minute cracks, one just right of the 8, from the bust to the denticles; and another, farther away, near bust point, extending to the center of a denticle. F-15, clean, but with the usual amount of handling marks."

MacFarland Specimen. F-15 .• Bowers and Ruddy Galleries, MacFarland Collection, 1981: 1555. "Reverse of Bolender-4. Obverse of Bolender-1. More or less VF-20, with some local weaknesses at the top left stars from advanced die failure. Faint traces of lustre around the date, and the piece has a nice steel-gray tone. A few scratches in both obverse fields, as illustrated. Faint die crack from ribbon to rim, between 3rd and 4th stars, another minute crack just left of 8 in date, from rim to bust. Minutely sharper than the ANA coin (1975). Blank area at upper left stars is more advanced and extensive, and L is practically obliterated." • Rarcoa, Auction '86, 1986: 728 .• Superior Galleries, H.W. Blevins Collection, 1988: 3697. "F-12. Dark, somewhat irregular golden gray toning with some blue and violet color forming at the left reverses. A few old scratches in the obverse fields and another scratch which bisects the reverse shield. The hair appears to be expertly and lightly tooled." • Superior Galleries, H. Roland Willasch Collection, 1990: 515. "Bolender-1 obverse and Bolender-4 reverse. The obverse die bulged and buckled from the sixth star to the L of LIBERTY obliterating those devices. Planchets of this variety always appear to be out of round, rather oval in shape. The reverse die is always mis-aligned with the obverse so the right side of the dentils are weak. A few minor surface scratches on the obverse, as well as one under the left wing of the eagle on the reverse. Late die state with bulge at star six through the L obliterating these devices."

Connecticut Historical Society Specimen. F-12 .• Bowers and Merena Galleries, 1983: 2047. "F-12 or better, with some areas of light striking. Attractive light gray surfaces."

Note: The Spies Specimen, Lot 110, EF-40, was described as obverse of Bolender-6 and reverse of Bolender-17. Since Bolender-6 and Bolender-17 shared the same reverse die, this would translate to obverse of Bolender-6 and reverse of Bolender-6 which, of course, would simply be Bolender-6, which is now BB-96.

• POPULATION DISTRIBUTION:
Approximate population MS-65 or better: 0 (URS-0)
Approximate population MS-64: 0 (URS-0)
Approximate population MS-63: 0 (URS-0)
Approximate population MS-60 to 62: 0 (URS-0)
Approximate population AU-50 to 58: 0 (URS-0)
Approximate population VF-20 to EF-45: 7 to 15 (URS-4)
Approximate population G-4 to F-15: 3 to 5 (URS-3)
Approximate population for all grades combined: 10 to 20 (URS-5)

• CONDITION CENSUS: 40-40-35-35-35-35