This is a rather appealing coin that has much to offer advanced gold type collectors and early eagle enthusiasts despite the stated qualifier. Vivid orange-gold color greets the viewer from both sides, the surfaces a bit bright with wispy hairlines from a light cleaning. A thin, meandering strikethrough or planchet flaw around the top of Libertys cap is as made, as are several faint adjustment marks on the reverse over and around the eagles legs. The strike is well centered within uniformly sharp borders; the devices are sharp, or at very least bold, over virtually all features. Closer inspection will be rewarded with traces of the original satin to semi-prooflike finish, especially in the protected areas around the reverse devices. All in all a relatively pleasing example of the second date in the challenging Capped Bust Right eagle series of 1795 to 1804.As an issue, the 1796 is scarcer and more difficult to locate in todays market than the first year 1795. Only a single die marriage is known, used to strike approximately 3,500 to 4,146 examples of this date. The reverse die also appears as part of the 1797 Small Eagle variety. Since some 1796 coins are known in a later reverse die state, there was obviously a remarriage for this variety with the late die state 1796 examples struck after the 1797 Small Eagle issue. The present example in BD Die State c/b is a median die state for the date, however, and was struck before the 1797 Small Eagle coins. Ideally suited for the collector seeking the combination of a scarcer issue and greater affordability.,,PCGS# 8554.,,From the Edgar B. Lupfer Collection.
