1796 Draped Bust Silver Dollar. BB-61, B-4. Rarity-2. Small Date, Large Letters. AU-53 (NGC). Otherwise olive and pewter-gray surfaces reveal a cornucopia of exceptionally vivid cobalt blue and rose-apricot undertones. This is a well centered, generally sharp example with only light high point rub commensurate with the assigned grade. Smooth in hand with no sizable or otherwise individually mentionable marks. BB Die State I.<p>Bowers-Borckardt 61 is the only collectible variety that corresponds to the Small Date, Large Letters <em>Guide Book</em> variety. (The BB-64 Small Date, Large Letters is a formidable rarity; Bowers knew of only three examples as of 2013.) It is also the most readily obtainable 1796-dated silver dollar die pairing with Harry E. Salyards (2022) accounting for 650 to 1,100 coins extant in all grades. The author opines that this variety was struck and delivered on multiple dates between March 30, 1796 and August 28, 1797. The substantial majority of examples grade VF or lower, often with significant surface problems. Consequently, the BB-61 is scarce to rare in grades of EF and finer, especially with problem-free surfaces, stressing the significance of the present NGC AU-53 example. PCGS# 6860. NGC ID: 24X3. From the Legacy Collection. Earlier from Heritages FUN Signature Auction of January 2022, lot 3488.
