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Lot 278
1797 LM-2 16 Stars. PCGS graded AU-50 PQ. CAC Approved. Desirable Small Eagle Reverse "Type." Nicely toned. Only 44,527 minted. Die breaks on reverse thru E and D of UNITED. A marvelous example in terms of preservation with typically seen and significantly weak central details. The weakness is due no doubt to the very late die state described below. Light to medium gray toning over somewhat lustrous silver surfaces. Choice rims.
Both sides show extremely heavy clash marks including the wreath in the obverse field and OF below the bust. Liberty's bust is boldly outlined on the upper reverse. The reverse has die cracks in and around ED. A crack from the rim through the center of E of UNITED joins a leaf below. A branch from this crack passes above E to the top of D and on to a leaf tip between D and S. A short crack connects this branch with the right top of E. An additional crack from the border to the upper right curve of D joins the branch crack at this letter.
Pop 1; none finer at PCGS. The only example graded for the variety (PCGS # 38598) .
Die characteristics: The order of types in 1797 is chronologically 15 stars, then 16, finally 13. The 15-star dies were left over from fall 1796, with final digit omitted, as was then common practice. The 16-star die, like its counterparts in all other silver and gold denominations, was made in 1796 alluding to Tennessee's admission to the Union as the sixteenth state (June 1). And the permanent shift to 13 stars followed Mint Director Elias Boudinot's realization that the Mint could not continue adding new stars as new states entered the Union.
Date punches on the 15-star die (like those on the 1796s) are those used on the last varieties of 1795. On this 16-star die there are two different 7s, indicating that when the die was made in 1796 its final digit was omitted. The 179 are from the same punches as on the last varieties of 1795 and both of 1796; the 7 punch must have cracked, chipped, or been mislaid in the meantime, suggests the Breen encyclopedia. "One of the two reverse dies of 1797 16 stars has outer berry below D (Valentine 3); the other, less rare (Valentine 4), has outer berry between NI instead: the shattered resurrected die of 15-star coins. Obverse in this last combination is usually marred by heavy clash marks. This variety may have been minted at the end of some later year following one of the annual yellow fever epidemics, when the Mint reopened in haste and made emergency coinages from any old dies that would hold up, however briefly.".
Estimated Value $10,000 - 12,000.
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| Realized $12,925 |
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