1797 Capped Bust Right Eagle. Heraldic Eagle. BD-2, Taraszka-8. Rarity-4+. MS-61 (PCGS). CAC. An attractive and scarce Mint State survivor from this transitional issue. Even yellow-gold coloration paints the surfaces, complemented by significant satiny luster around the design elements. Only the most trivial marks show under a glass and the reverse remains particularly untouched. Bass-Dannreuther 2 is the first of three die marriages that the Mint used to strike 1797 Capped Bust Right eagles of the newly introduced Heraldic Eagle reverse type. It is Style 1 of this type, the head punch the familiar Draped Bust motif from Robert Scots original hub of 1795, but the reverse from a John Smith Gardner hub with a long thin neck to the eagle. This is the only die variety of this style, the remaining two marriages of the 1797 Heraldic Eagle displaying reverse eagle punches that, although they are also from Gardner hubs, are characterized by long thick neck (BD-4) and short thin neck (BD-3) eagles. The estimated mintage for this issue as a whole is in the range of 8,750 to 12,500 pieces. BD-2 vies with BD-4 as the most plentiful variety of the issue, although with no more than 100 coins believed extant in grades (per John W. Dannreuther, 2006), the scarcity of the variety in an absolute sense cannot be denied. Early eagles as a group are scarce and Mint State survivors are even more elusive, making this a fleeting bidding opportunity worthy of serious consideration. From the Harrington Collection.
