Five Dollars Reward. Ran away from the subscriber, without any provocation, on the 31st of August 1799, an apprentice lad named Vachel Johnson, a shoemaker by trade, about 20 years of age, 5 feet 5 or 6 inches high, has a down sullen look when spoken to, has sandy or reddish hair, tied behind ... --The Maryland Gazette, Annapolis, Maryland, September 5, 1799.Glimmering with impressive depths of reflectivity and showing the finest deep yellow gold color, this example presents extraordinary aesthetic appeal and definitive detail. Both sides are resoundingly lustrous, the obverse showing cartwheel in addition to its reflectivity, while the reverse is mostly frosty and satiny, but for some prooflike character in the lower left field. Very well struck, with bold centers and sharp peripheries; only the stars at the lower right obverse lack their centers while all reverse stars show theirs. The obverse shows some inconsequential hairlines, and a glass will find a light abrasion from the chin to star 11 and a thin hairline from star 6 to the back of the hair. On the reverse, the surfaces are pristine but for the most minor and inconsequential lines. A nearly invisible abrasion is noted on the rim above the second S in STATES. No heavy adjustment marks are present, just some light ones that are barely seen on the eagles chest and in the upper bend of the wing at right. Lighter planchet preparation lines on the obverse are well struck out and vertical in orientation, barely visible near LIBERTY and just below. Some suggestion of them is visible atop the reverse, more prominent on the cloud below OF.Struck from a fascinating die state, with an essentially perfect obverse but a boldly clashed reverse, the same die state seen on the coin in our Bass II sale of 1999, lot 732. Though the clash is bold on the reverse and seemingly nonexistent on the obverse, the date placement of the clash makes it evident that the clash was suffered as part of the present die marriage. Apparently, the clash marks left around the date on the obverse were able to be entirely lapped away, leaving no more evidence than a few malformed denticles beneath the space under 99 of the date. Two very light die cracks are seen on the obverse, one from the rim to the top of the upright in B of LIBERTY and the other from the lowest curl to the rim left of the 1 in the date. The final 9 of the date is lightly recut.The Large Stars Reverse variety of 1799 half eagles consists of just two individual die marriages: Bass Dannreuther-5 and Bass Dannreuther-8. Though different reverse dies were used for the two, the large star punches are common to both. Each is very rare. Harry Bass was able to acquire two specimens of each, with the Core Collection retaining one of them, while the duplicates, both graded AU-55 (PCGS) were sold in the Bass II auction. No survivor of the Large Stars Reverse is known in a finer grade than the D. Brent Pogue specimen. The retained Bass BD-5 appears to be of similar quality, while the Core Collection BD-8 is not.More than twice as many Small Stars Reverse 1799 half eagles have been certified by PCGS than the Large Stars Reverse type. In Mint State, the difference in rarity is more stark, with 25 Mint State submissions for the Large Stars Reverse reflected on the PCGS Population Report versus just three for the Small Stars Reverse. Among them, this is the finest certified.