1799 Draped Bust Silver Dollar. BB-168, B-22. Rarity-5. AU-50 (PCGS). OGH.；Die State III. This is the final die state reported with additional cracks not listed in Q. David Bowers 2013 <em>The Encyclopedia of United States Silver Dollars 1794 - 1804.</em> The obverse die has developed a crack splitting between but not touching the 17 from the rim nearly to the junction of Libertys shoulder and hair, a horizontal crack splits off to the right and touches the lower portions of 799 and curls up towards Libertys bust, another crack extends left from the primary, crosses the post of the 1 near the lower serif, curls up into the field just missing the two lower rounded curls of Liberty. A raised die lump is seen before Libertys eye in the field, another to the right of star ten near the denticles. The existing die crack to stars 11 to 13 remains shallow and may have been lapped prior to this die state.<br />The obverse is generally light silver with somewhat irregular gold and blue splashes through the periphery and elsewhere, typical toning for this variety. The reverse always appears to be a much higher grade than the obverse, and all known examples show a heavy bisecting die crack spanning the reverse. A heavy lump appears at the E of UNITED, and a wide crack touches the left serif of M in AMERICA. The Philadelphia Mint developed a new way to cool the annealed (heated) dies during 1799 because so many dies had fractured using the prior cooling process. After 1799 these types of early die fractures diminished greatly.<br /><br />The Condition Census for this variety places this coin as tied as the finest with one other PCGS AU-50 example from the Dr. Hesselgesser Collection. Two other examples claim the EF-45 grade, and then a number are graded EF-40 and lower. This exceptional example is destined for a high-grade variety collection and will offer any specialist hours of study and enjoyment.<br />；Ex Cardinal Collection; Superiors Elite Auction of January 2002, lot 1189; Heritages CSNS Signature Sale of April 2002, lot 6704.
