1795 Capped Bust Right Half Eagle. Small Eagle. BD-3. Rarity-3+. AU-58 (PCGS).，Lovely near-Mint quality for this popular and eagerly sought issue in the Capped Bust Right half eagle series. Satin to semi-reflective surfaces retain much of the original finish, overall full detail also confirming a brief stint in active commerce for this well preserved example. The strike is impressive in an early U.S. Mint coin, both sides ideally centered on the planchet with only trivial softness of detail to the eagles head, breast and legs on the reverse. The eagles eye is discernible, however, a feature that is often absent even on Uncirculated survivors of this type. A few light adjustment marks in the center of the reverse are easily overlooked, and there are no significant handling marks.<p>The first gold coin struck for the United States of America is the 1795 Small Eagle five, 8,707 examples of which were delivered that year. Based on the number of coins extant, it is highly likely that additional examples of this issue were struck in 1796. Indeed, John W. Dannreuther (<em>Early U.S. Gold Coin Varieties: A Study of Die States, 1795-1834</em>, 2006) estimates that the mintage for the 1795 Small Eagle may be as high as 12,106 pieces. The most plentiful of the 12 known die marriages is BD-3, offered here, with an estimated mintage of 2,000 to 3,000 coins. This is a limited total when viewed in the wider context of U.S. coinage history, to be sure, and like all pre-1834 quarter eagles, half eagles and eagles the 1795 Small Eagle five suffered a high rate of attrition through commercial use and melting. It is an indication of the rarity of both the type and issue that the BD-3 variety, with only 175 to 225 coins believed extant (again per Dannreuther) is the most readily obtainable die marriage of the date. The present example, with superior quality and eye appeal, is sure to have no difficulty finding its way into an advanced type set or dedicated early half eagle collection.，PCGS# 8066. NGC ID: 25ND.，，From the Alexander Collection. Acquired from Surfside in Miami, 1947. Collector envelope with provenance notation included.
