None seen Uncirculated. -- Walter Breen.This lustrous, deep gray gem offers superlative eye appeal that matches its position atop the census for this major variety. Ancient gold toning emerges under light, most forcefully when crossed by lustrous cartwheel, though the overall look is that of deep pewter tinged with peach and pale green. The fields reveal no significant issues, just a short vertical abrasion in the left obverse field equidistant from star 3 and the chin. The strike is especially sharp at the peripheries, with each star showing its fully delineated center and the peculiarly well-defined denticles struck up to full crispness. The central devices are likewise nicely detailed, though Libertys throat shows some rounded detail and the eagles head and the upper left corner of the shield are a bit soft. At least three distinct though closely aligned clashes are seen, most notable above the date and denomination and about the ribbon details near the bases of STAT. The clash mark at star 8 displays the olive branch in remarkable detail, an unusual aspect. A very fine die crack extends from the bust truncation to the outside point of star 1. On the reverse, an arc die crack begins at the clash mark within 0 of the denomination and extends clockwise through the tips of the olive leaves, the tops of all letters of UNITED, and the tops of STA before curving down to the top of the motto ribbon and ending, faintly, at the base of E of AMERICA.Distinctive in appearance and very rare in Mint State grades, the Small Stars obverse of 1807 is underappreciated compared to other varieties of the year such as the 50/20C Reverse or the so-called "Bearded Goddess." The "Small Stars" moniker perhaps requires refinement, as overlays of the stars on this variety and others from 1807 reveal that the same punch set was used on this variety as on its Large Stars brethren. The stars appear slightly smaller by virtue of either lapping, a polishing of the die, or the depth of the initial strike of the star punch into the die face. Their relative size may be an optical illusion created by the smaller and more refined denticles and the greater distance between those smaller denticles and the stars themselves. Used only in the Overton-113 die marriage, the Small Stars obverse has been recognized as a major variety in the Guide Book for decades, and in Wayte Raymonds Standard Catalogue for decades before that.The provenance of this piece has been occasionally conflated with that of the Pryor coin (Bowers and Merena, January 1996), earlier from Stacks March 1978 Fraser sale and the Lester Merkin sales of March 1967 and February 1972. They are distinct specimens, though both are graded MS-65+ by PCGS and stand together atop both the Overton-Parsley Condition Census of 65-65-63-63-62 for Overton-113 and the PCGS Population Report for the Small Stars variety..
