1795 Flowing Hair Silver Dollar. BB-21, B-1. Rarity-2. Two Leaves. Silver Plug. MS-61 (PCGS).Eagerly sought by advanced early dollar collectors in todays market, the intriguing silver plug Flowing Hair silver dollars of 1795 eluded numismatic attention for nearly 200 years after they were produced. Neither John W. Haseltine nor M.H. Bolender identified these pieces, and it was not until the early 1990s that numismatic scholars began to seriously study the silver plug feature with a view toward proper attribution and classification.<p>What the market has discerned since then - much of which, it must be remembered, is theory, as there is no contemporary documentation explaining this feature - is that somewhere between 30 and 100 examples of the 1795 Flowing Hair silver dollar were struck on planchets into which a tiny silver dowel, or plug, was inserted prior to striking. A simple piercing would have sufficed to hold the plug in place until the force of striking impressed it into the surface of the coin. The insertion of the plug seems to have been an experiment, conducted almost exclusively on 1795 dated silver dollars, with the goal of bringing lightweight planchets up to the mandated standard and, hence, enabling them to be used in coinage. Although the plug remains clearly visible after striking, metallurgical analysis of at least one example has confirmed that the silver fineness and trace metals are virtually identical for both the plug and the remainder of the planchet.<p>To date, numismatists have identified only five die marriages of the 1795 Flowing Hair silver dollar for which silver plug examples are known: B-1, B-3, B-4, B-7 and B-9. (A listing for a B-5 example with a silver plug in <em>The PCGS Population Report</em> is an error - we have seen that coin and, in consultation with early dollar specialists, have confirmed that it is misattributed as having a silver plug.) With the sole exception of the Neil-Carter-Contursi-Cardinal specimen of the 1794 Flowing Hair dollar, no other silver dollar of any date or type is known with a silver plug.<p>Mint State silver plug dollars are exceedingly rare, with PCGS and NGC combined having certified just four examples of the 1795 Flowing Hair dollar at that grade level. The PCGS MS-61 that we offer here is one of only two examples of the B-1 variety with a silver plug certified as Mint State. It is particularly intriguing for the presence of light adjustment marks along the lower obverse border, slanting down to the viewers right in the center of the reverse, and faintly at the upper right reverse border. With both a silver plug and adjustments, it seems that this planchet was first increased in weight by insertion of the imprecise plug, but then required filing to reduce the weight when it was discovered that the plug resulted in a blank that exceeded the standard. The plug is clearly seen on the obverse, perfectly centered and near-perfectly round in shape.<p>Both sides are sharply struck despite all the work done on the planchet beforehand, with just a touch of softness to the eagles breast and within its left wing. Ideally centered, as well, with bold to full denticulation evenly encircling both sides. Otherwise brilliant, wisps of pale reddish-gold iridescence drift over both sides and find greatest expression at the upper obverse border. Uncommonly smooth for the assigned grade, there are no post-production marks of note, just some muting of the frosty luster that explains the MS-61 assessment from PCGS. An attractive BU example, and a highly significant piece that would serve with distinction in the finest early dollar cabinet.PCGS# 6854. NGC ID: 24WZ.PCGS Population (all die marriages with a Silver Plug): 1; 2 finer (MS-65+ finest).
