I know of no coins of gold better executed than our eagles, nor of silver than our dollars. -- John Adams to John Marshall, September 9, 1800.Nicely reflective on the obverse, aswirl with satiny lustre on the reverse, this fine eagle presents consistent light yellow gold toning throughout and is lovely to behold. Particularly boldly struck, the centers of both sides are rich with delicate details. Less focal areas that sometimes show weakness, like the tip of Libertys cap and the arrow talon, are likewise fully defined. A glass finds some natural granularity on the obverse, left of the date near star 1, hugging the denticles above stars 12 and 13, and scattered around the periphery and some areas of the fields. Light lines are found with scrutiny, along with some trivial marks like the nick low on Libertys cheek and the thin hairline from star 7 to the back of the cap. The reverse is easily gem quality in terms of both technical and aesthetic aspects. A light natural struck-through flaw is seen at the second U of UNUM.A thin vertical die crack descends through Libertys cap, clearly a stress point on these dies and a common location of cracks in this series, becoming nearly invisible before it reaches the denticles at top and disappears into the hair behind Libertys ear at base. A bolder crack emerges from the denticles left of E of LIBERTY, descending clockwise to connect the tops of ERTY, and connecting LIB more daintily the other direction. On the reverse, a faint crack crosses the tail and runs along the bottom border of the branch talon and the leaves to below R of AMERICA, while another similarly light crack connects UNI of UNITED near their bases. A clash from obverse denticles, an accident that befell this reverse in its short-lived 1801 BD-1 marriage, is seen from the wingtip at left to the tops of STAT. The clouds in this area show hollowing, a byproduct of lapping that attempted to remove the clash marks but succeeded only in weakening them.The die state sequence of this variety reveals that this specimen, despite its 1800 date, was actually produced later than the entire mintage of 1801 BD-1. Such hijinks make something as simple as determining a mintage figure for a given year complicated, but they also reward the careful study of the early products of the United States Mint. The canonical mintage figure for 1800 eagles is 5,999 coins, based upon delivery warrants from that calendar year. John Dannreuthers revised estimate suggests that as many as 12,500 eagles dated 1800 could have been struck, most of them in 1801. All of these were struck from a single combination of dies, employing a reverse that was also used to strike 1799 BD-10.John Adams was president in 1800, and as chief executive, he heard from everyone who wanted something from the federal government. When John Marshall, then secretary of state, forwarded the petition from an individual who sought a contract to produce coins for the United States (under the assumption that the United States Mint would soon close), Adams put him off. Writing from his home in Quincy, Massachusetts, Adams told Marshall that the coins struck at the Mint in Philadelphia were as good as any hed encountered on his world travels. Adams recalled his days in Paris, writing "the motto of the hotel de Valentinois, in which I lived at Passy, was si sta bene, non se move, [or] if you stand well, stand still. The epitaph stava ben ma por stare meglio sto qui, [translated as] I was well, but by taking too much physick to be better, lo here I lie is a good admonition. I will not be answerable for the correctness of my Italian." Adams, having seen eagles just like this one, preferred to leave well enough alone.Just as improving the United States Mint was a tall order in 1800, so too would be improving upon this choice 1800 eagle. Referenced by Anthony Taraszka as one of the five finest he had encountered, this likewise ranks among the five finest seen by PCGS. Only a single coin graded finer by PCGS has sold at auction in the last decade.
