1799/8 Draped Bust Silver Dollar. BB-143, B-2. Rarity-4. 13-Star Reverse. EF-45 Details--Cleaned (ANACS). Well centered in strike with plenty of bold detail remaining, freedom from sizeable marks is also a praiseworthy attribute. The surfaces are glossy in texture with wispy hairlines to explain the ANACS qualifier. Bowers-Borckardt 143 is the scarcest of the three overdate varieties of the 1799 Draped Bust silver dollar, all of which share the same obverse. In this marriage, one of two for the 13-Star Reverse <em>Guide Book</em> variety, this obverse is paired with a reverse that is always seen with a crack from the border through the curved portion of the letter D in UNITED. Q. David Bowers, <em>Encyclopedia of United States Silver Dollars 1794-1804</em> (2013), estimates that only 250 to 450 examples of BB-143 are extant in all grades, making this variety twice as scarce as BB-142 and nearly three times as scarce as BB-141. This variety is also the most conditionally challenging of the three 1799 overdates, the typical example grading no finer than VF. The present example, although not perfect, is sure to appeal to many early dollar variety enthusiasts. BB Die State II. PCGS# 40066.
