1803 Capped Bust Right Eagle. BD-1, Taraszka-26. Rarity-5+. Small Reverse Stars. AU-58 (NGC).This noticeably prooflike example presents exceptionally well for a lightly circulated early date eagle. Bright golden-olive color blankets both sides and provides further eye appeal. The strike is well centered; with only light high point rub the overall detail is bold for the assigned grade. BD Die State a/a.<p>The eagles coined in 1803 offer a fascinating insight into the difficulties the early Mint confronted with coin production. A single 1803-dated obverse die was hardy enough to produce the entire output of eagles, but the six different reverse dies tell a different story. The first two reverse dies for this issue seemingly did not last very long, producing between 1,800 and 3,100 coins between the two of them. Mint personnel then resurrected an 1801 reverse die to produce the BD-3 die pair, one that at least was able to coin some 7,500 to 10,000 eagles before it, too, failed. It is uncertain what precisely led to its failure, as a terminal die state is not presently known, but the strong clash marks and evidence of heavy die lapping on the reverse would tend to indicate that withdrawal from use was likely imminent by the time these last few coins were produced from this die pair.<p>As with other early gold issues, the precise mintage is a matter of conjecture. The widely accepted and most quoted figure is that 15,017 pieces were struck in 1803 divided between 8,979 Small Reverse Stars and 6,038 Large Reverse Stars coins. Die sequence analysis by John Dannreuther (2006) points to a larger quantity somewhere in the range of 13,850 to 20,450 specimens because the original estimate fails to take into account a later batch of eagles struck in 1804 using a backdated 1803 obverse. The BD-1 variety has long proven to be among the scarcer of the six die pairs with only 30 to 40 individual specimens in existence. This is one of our few offerings for the die pairing in recent decades, and represents a significant opportunity for specialists.<p>PCGS# 8565. NGC ID: 262A.From the Harvey B. Jacobson Jr. Collection.
