The nickels, dimes, and dollars for which the Americans are striving daily will be used as the textbooks of history in coming generations. — Virgil Brand, quoted in the Chicago Record-Herald, 1910.The lightest imaginable wear has barely diminished strong luster and bold reflectivity, but has added a kiss of fine coppery tone to those areas that have been lightly worn, an attractive contrast with the freshness of bright yellow gold seen elsewhere. Well detailed and highly attractive, this coin shows scattered tiny marks and fine lines that are consistent with the grade, doing no harm to the aesthetic quality. A little cluster of marks is noted between star 9 and the base of Libertys cap, another light grouping under ME of AMERICA. Lintmarks or impressions from other foreign matter are seen on the reverse, above the middle hump of the wing at left, beneath the eagles beak, and under the junction of AM in AMERICA. No heavy adjustment marks are seen, just the faintest vestige underlying the wingtip at right and RI of AMERICA. A minuscule rim nick is hidden far below the final A in AMERICA.<span style="line-height:1.5;">The reverse die is cracked, as always seen, later than Bass-Dannreuther state b but earlier than state c. A fine crack runs from the wing at right to the right side of the tail, then changes direction to touch the left at right. A larger crack from the rim, across two leaves and the olive branch, to the other side of the leg at right appears to be unconnected. Another very fine crack is barely visible from the place where the wing-tail crack meets the tail, into the field toward the final A of AMERICA. In the final state, Bass-Dannreuther state c, the die crack extends all the way to A, as seen on both of the examples in the National Numismatic Collection.</span><span style="line-height:1.5;">Historic, popular, and unabashedly rare, the design of the 16 Stars variety of 1797 half eagle evokes the June 1, 1796. statehood of Tennessee. With 11 stars crowded to the left and five more on the right, this obverse die represented the denouement of each state receiving a star of recognition on the nations coinage. The half eagles of 1798 returned to the 13 star arrangement, symbolizing the original states whose representatives signed the United States Constitution. The half eagles of 1797 are rare enough that all varieties receive a great deal of attention, but the 16 Stars design is distinctive to this year, making it particularly special and sought after. There are two Small Eagle varieties that share this obverse: this one, and the unique Bass Dannreuther-4, a coin that spent over a century in the Byron Reed Collection before joining the Harry Bass Core Collection, where it remains. This obverse was also married to a Heraldic Eagle reverse to create another unique variety; once sold in our 1955 Farish Baldenhofer auction, it found a permanent home among the Lilly Collection coins in the National Numismatic Collection.</span>This may be the second finest survivor from these dies. The MS-61 (PCGS) FCC Boyd - Memorable (1948) - J.F. Bell (1963) - R.L. Miles, Jr. (1968) coin, last sold in our August 2013 American Numismatic Association auction, is widely considered the finest; it is the only coin graded Mint State by PCGS. The retained Harry Bass coin is of similar quality, while the duplicate sold in Bass II was last offered in 2004 certified as MS-60 (NGC). It may be one of the coins on the PCGS Population Report as AU-58 today. Two additional examples of this die marriage, one from the Mint Cabinet and one from the Josiah K. Lilly Collection, are impounded in the National Numismatic Collection at the Smithsonian Institution..Had Virgil Brands brothers, Horace and Armin Brand, gotten their way, this example would be in the Smithsonian as well. Their entreaties to the federal government to acquire the more than 300,000 specimens in the Virgil Brand Collection failed, and this piece remained with Horace until his death in 1962. Sold at auction in 1964, it long resided in the famous half eagle collection of Ed Milas, alongside the 1797 15 Stars half eagle offered in the previous lot.