Uncirculated. Brilliant. The faintest abrasion. Mint lustre. Remarkable and superb specimen.” — Henry Chapman, 1912</em>Certain to attract the attention of anyone who comes close enough to view it, this is among the most superlative of all early United States silver coins. Boldly struck, showing remarkable cartwheel luster and profound reflective texture, this dollar displays the quality and stature of a top-shelf gem. The obverse is frosty, dusted with attractive faint gold toning across its surfaces, light enough to let the original silvery surface shine forth but rich enough to present a look of untrammeled originality. The toning deepens near the peripheries, retaining violet-rose, warm coppery orange, and traces of bright blue; the azure highlights are most abundant on either side of the date. Further highlights of gray and olive are flecked around the upper periphery in subtle but attractive fashion. The reverse is both more reflective and more brilliant, though it still boasts impressive frost and cartwheel. A ring of faint gold adheres to the rims, dispersing into the bright silver fields and deepening to variegated amber at the ends of the denticles. The strike is superb on both sides, giving sculptural definition to Liberty’s portrait. The curls below her ear, typically soft on this type, show excellent detail, and the rest of her tresses and curls are even sharper. Star 8, to the left of LIBERTY, shows modest central softness, as do stars 9 through 12. The eagle’s breast and legs are fully feathered, just a bit blunt on a diagonal up the center of the eagle’s leg at right to the center of the breast. Leaves, letters, and denticles are all assertively struck.The surfaces show that a remarkable degree of care has attended this coin since it was struck. Before striking, the dies were wiped clean, and tiny lintmarks are visible on the reverse in the space between the right ribbon end and the second A of AMERICA and alongside the left side of the top of the first S in STATES, along with one above the eagle’s wing at right and below the wingtip at left. Few marks of any consequence are present on either side. A light batch of hairlines is barely visible between Liberty’s chin and star 13. A short scratch is seen above the space between 95 in the date, and a single horizontal hairline crosses Liberty’s cheekbone. A shallow and minor abrasion blends in at the central obverse, right of the centering dot. The reverse is notably free of defects, showing just a short natural streak below the eagle’s wing at right. Two circular spots are present on the obverse, inside of star 10 and between the outer points of stars 11 and 12. No signs of planchet adjustment are seen on either side.The dies are fresh, showing lapping lines through UNI on the reverse and some single lapping remnants on the obverse, including ones below the lowest curl and above E of LIBERTY on the obverse and extending from the leaf point beyond F of OF on the reverse. Some very trivial relics of a spalling process are seen on the die face, manifesting as raised lines and lumps here and there, most prominent at the upper right point of star 3 near star 4, within the gap between Liberty’s hair and bow, and resembling die rust within the intricacies of the leaves on the reverse. The die is uncracked and essentially looks as it did when placed into the press, leaving a coin that is the best possible rendition of this design type.Just as the Garrett Specimen 1795 dollar has had but two auction appearances since 1885, this gem has had just two auction appearances since 1912. Were it not for the Garrett coin, this coin would be widely acclaimed as the very finest example from these dies; as it is, it remains numerically tied as finest known. Among all 1795 Draped Bust dollars, just two have been graded MS-66 by PCGS. The only other one, a BB-52, is offered in the following lot.PCGS# 96858. NGC ID: 24X2.
