DRAPED BUST / EAGLE AND SHIELD SILVER DOLLARS (1798-1804)

SCOT'S HERALDIC DESIGN
(1798-1803)

Robert Scot originally made his adaptation of the Great Seal of the United States in 1796, for the quarter eagles intended to be issued alluding to Tennessee's admission to the Union as the sixteenth state (they have 16 stars above eagle). Following a practice which remained traditional at the Mint as late as 1915, he made working hubs of the same designs for other denomina¬tions: half eagles and eagles in 1797, dismes and dollars in 1798, half dismes in 1800, half dollars in 1801, quarter dollars in 1804. All these contained the same heraldic blunder or tasteless military brag in showing the bunch of arrows in eagle's dexter or more honorable claw (observer's 1.), the olive branch for peace in the sinister or less honorable claw (observer's r.). See Chap. 24, Sect, iii, introductory text. Working hubs for the larger denominations lacked the full bunch of arrows, berries on branch, stars above eagle's head, and protruding end of stem; these details had to be entered into each working die by hand.

The earliest dollars with this new rev. design have large 8 and knobbed 9, the latter from the 1796-97 font. They were minted early in the year, but the quantity is uncertain. All that is known is that Thomas Bingham cut a new 8 punch (small 8, for the Pointed 9 coins), and that Mint Director Elias Boudinot paid him 50<f for it on Feb. 1, 1798; there is no record when the working obvs. bearing it went into use.

Arrangement of stars above eagle's head requires attention. On at least seven dollar dies of 1798-99, and smaller numbers of eagle, half-eagle, quarter-eagle, and disme revs., stars are in intersecting straight lines forming diamond-shaped configura¬tions: Hilt's "cross pattern." Hilt derives this from the Great Seal (as copied on the backs of current dollar bills) and attrib¬utes all these working dies to John Smith Gardner, though the time element makes this unlikely as Gardner had long since left the Mint. More likely all come from an apprentice letterer in the Engraving Department, who either left the Mint in 1798 or was thereafter required to use the "arc pattern." (The 14-star "cross pattern" dies used on 1804 quarter eagles and 1804-5 dismes have the same letter punches as those of 1798, sug¬gesting that they were left over from then.) The "arc pattern" (standard through 1807 on all denominations) has stars in a curved row of six, paralleling clouds, a second row of five paral¬lel (in an arc of a smaller concentric circle), with twelfth and thirteenth stars, respectively, at beak and behind eagle's head. Earliest "arc pattern" revs, have twelfth star directly 1. of beak; later ones have it below and usually touching beak.

The first four Small 8 obvs. had very widely spaced dates; that with widest LIBERTY (5379) is believed first, as it shares a "cross pattern" rev. with the Knobbed 9 group. The die was immediately reground, probably to efface clash marks, and lasted only briefly; survivors are very rare, as are Bolender 18 and 22 (incl. in 5380) with huge arc break down through E of STATES. Later obvs. have dates spaced progressively closer; one of the last (High 8) outlived seven revs.
In 1799, some 11 obvs. and 17 revs, were combined to pro¬duce 23 vars. The earliest obv., evidently a 1798 die left over without final digit and only completed at hardening, is the fa¬mous Irregular Date: final 9 much too low, tilted crazily to r. (A common occurrence in Scot's day, doubtless explaining also both the High 8 obv. and the 1798 with 15 stars. See also Chap. 28, Sect, ii, introductory text.) The Irregular Date comes with three revs., all short-lived: 5386, a "cross pattern" die left over from 1798; 5387, a rusted normal die; and 5388, with the fa¬mous 15 Stars blunder: the regular "arc pattern" began with seven stars in top row, six in second, plus the two at beak and behind head. On discovery of the blunder, Scot greatly enlarged two end clouds to conceal the two extra stars, but some points remain clear.

This rev. also comes with what is probably the second die of the year, the famous 1799/8: an obv. originally made up for the 1798 Wide Date group but mislaid or for some other reason unused. This overdate die also comes with two other revs.. Bo-lender 1 (heavy die flaws around RI) and Bolender 2 (die flaws at ER and a bar in cloud below E of STATES—pan of a mis¬placed E?). Aside from these, the other major vars. requiring comment are the Five Stars Facing obv., presumably a blunder rather than a deliberate experiment, and the "No Berries" rev. (Bolender 11, 12). This last is the final state of the same rev. die first seen on Bolender 16 and then with the Five Stars Facing obv., after repeated regrindings to remove clash marks.

The 16 vars. of 1800 (from 12 obvs. and 11 revs.) consist mostly of wide and close dates with variously repunched letters. The famous "AMERICAI" shows stroke of an extra letter at claw; under a glass, this appears to be the r. leg of a mostly effaced A.

Mintage reported for 1801 consisted largely of coins dated 1800; similar backdating was the rule through 1804. Aside from the proof restrikes dated 1801-3 and the fantasy coins dated 1804 (see next section), the only real rarities in this group are 1802/1 Bolender 9 (die chip in field between B and curl point), 1802 Bolender 5 (Wide Even Date), and 1803 Bolender 3 (Small Low 3, obv. field chip next to twelfth star). Only five revs, in all were made for the 1801-3 period, two of them (dollar special¬ists' "A" and "B" revs.) reused briefly and repeatedly. Only the two final vars. (1802 Divided Date and 1803 Large 3) are com¬mon; die-state evidence proves that these followed all the other 1803's, presumably forming the entire mintage [19,570] re¬ported for 1804, in addition to much of the quantity reported for 1803.

The Mint Director's Report listed [321] for 1805: These were dollars of previous years, found among Spanish dollars depos¬ited for coinage. They were not melted, merely redelivered: Stewart (1924). This bookkeeping entry was nevertheless long mistaken for actual coinage, inspiring forgers to concoct at least one dollar with date altered to 1805.
Only in recent years have early silver dollars begun to attract collector attention as intense as the smaller denominations— despite the shortcomings of available reference books. Were some future researcher to produce a book on this series in a class with Sheldon {1958} on 1793-1814 cents, doubtless early dollars would eventually rival the cents' popularity.

SCOT'S HERALDIC DESIGN

Designer, Engraver, Robert Scot, obv. after Gilbert Stuart, rev. after the Great Seal of the United States. Mint, Physical Specifications, Authorizing Act, as before.
Grade range, POOR to UNC. GOOD: Date and all letters legible except motto on scroll; devices completely outlined. VERY GOOD: Parts of eye and ear visible; partial hair and feather details; few letters of motto show. FINE: Eye and ear completely clear; some hair details in curls and 1. of ear; partial drapery lines; half wing feathers, partial motto. VERY FINE: Over half hair details, about V4 feather details, motto completely legible. EXTREMELY FINE: All shield lines clearly separated; isolated tiny rubbed spots on highest points only; partial mint luster. EXCEPTIONS: On a few vars. with buckled or broken rev. die, motto may not be complete in VERY FINE.

KNEASS'S "1804" DOLLARS AND THEIR BRETHREN

After over a century of nonsense written and talked about these legendary rarities, the truth became manifest at the 1962 ANA Convention when James C. Risk described Spink's ex¬hibit of the King of Siam's 1834 proof set in original case, con¬taining an "original" 1804 dollar (5406) and a plain 4 1804 eagle (6848). What follows summarizes, extends, and updates conclusions reached in Newman-Bressett {1962} and Breen {1977}.

Eckfeldt and Dubois {1842}, by illustrating an "1804" dollar without any descriptive comment, informed alert coin collectors of the day that such a piece actually existed. This had its desired effect: On May 9, 1843, Matthew Adams Stickney traveled from Boston to Philadelphia, bringing rarities, including 1118, to trade to the curator of the Mint Cabinet Collection in exchange for an 1804. (Other collectors apparently followed his path but left no documentary evidence.)
Well before the Civil War, the 1804's were recognized as unlike all earlier dollars (except the still unreleased proof restrikes dated 1801-3). Obv. and rev. dies are from the old Scot hubs, both with hand strengthening; borders are of round beads within raised rims, like Kneass's dismes of 1828, half dismes and gold of 1829, half cents and quarters of 1831, and cents of 1834, but nothing earlier. As on many coins of 1834 but none of 1794-1824, the 4 has a flat top. Their single obv. die comes with two revs. That found on "original" or "first type" 1804's has S T widely spaced, and space between clouds below I. serif of E; eight specimens survive, of which all began as brilliant proofs, most were cleaned or impaired, and one (a pocket piece) wore down to FINE grade. The second rev. die, found on "restrike" or "second type" 1804's, has ST closely spaced, and space between clouds about below center of E; of these much more below.

On Nov. 11, 1834, the State Department ordered two cased sets of "specimens of each kind [of domestic coin] now in use, whether of gold, silver, or copper," for diplomatic presentation to the King of Siam and the Sultan [Imam] of Muscat (John Forsyth, letter to Mint Director Samuel Moore, reprinted in Breen {1977}, p. 57). As neither dollars nor eagles had been coined since 1804, either Dr. Moore or someone in the State Dept. ordered that this fictitious date appear on these denomi¬nations. Special Agent Edmund Roberts delivered the set in crimson morocco case to Sayid Sayid bin Sultan, Imam of Muscat, in 1835, as part of a crescendo of diplomatic gift exchanges which culminated in 1839 with the delivery of a full-grown lion and lioness to the Washington Zoo. The other set, in yellow morocco case, went via Roberts to King Ph'ra Nang Klao of Siam, April 5, 1836. Thereafter it passed to his successors Kings Mongkut and Chulalongkorn, by whom it was given to ancestors of a later British owner, who sold it to Spink's. In 1979 Lester Merkin sold it into a private collection for approximately $1 million.

Roberts originally also carried two similar sets for delivery to two other rulers with whom the State Dept. was specially interested in opening trade talks. Though he managed to obtain trade agreements with Siam and Muscat, Roberts died of dysentery in Macao, and the other sets (intended for the Emperor of Cochin-China and the Mikado of Japan) were returned to the Mint. Coins from the Muscat proof set eventually reached a British collector, being dispersed in Walters 1917, though the case was gone. In addition to the coins for these four proof sets, Mint authorities struck at least four others, presumably for re¬serve in the event that the State Dept. would make similar or¬ders, and for trade with the few serious coin collectors who had anything outstanding for the Mint Cabinet Collections.

At some unknown date no later than 1858, unidentified parties with keys to the Coiner's Vault retrieved both original "1804" dies and the old Scot device punch, which had chipped before its 1834 use so that curl tip atop head was missing. They used this to make three new obvs., backdated 1801, 1802, and 1803. On the last two, the broken curl tip was lengthened by hand. By the time these 1801-3 restrikes were made, the rev. had developed a rust pit midway between next to lowest wing feather and top leaf of olive branch. On the original 1804 dollars this rust pit is missing; on the "1801" and "1803" it is very minute; on the "1802" it is larger, nearly half the size of a berry, suggesting that this was made months or years later. All the "1801" and "1803" 1-estrikes, but no others, show a snlall de¬pression in space between UM and shield, from a sliver of foreign matter adhering to rev. die, indicating that they were made about the same time. Blanks are atypical; weights range from 419-423 grs. — 27.15-27.41 gms., unlike either the original 1804*s (struck at 416 grs. — 26.96 gms.) or the normal dollars of the 1850s (412.5 grs. = 26.73 gms.). Edges are blundered, suggesting that—like the 1804 restrikes described below they were originally made with plain edges, then after the scandal of 1858 concealed until someone could find the original edge dies and jury-rig a Castaing machine to impart edge lettering to the finished coins.

William Idler (who had long been an agent for whichever Mint people were peddling restrikes and fantasy coins) concealed the 1801-3 restrikes until early 1876. When his son-in-law Capt. John W. Haseltine began showing them around (CCJ 3/1876, p. 83), local collectors rejected the coins on the theory that they had probably been fabricated within the last few months. Haseltine's protege Samuel Hudson Chapman said in Lyman:13 (1913) that "Mint officials" had been offering them for sale in May 1876 when he entered the coin business with his brother Henry. Which Mint officials? We may never know for certain, though Patterson DuBois (long Curator of the Mint Cabinet) is the most likely candidate. DuBois, long a defender of Mint sales of pattern and experimental coins, was Chapman's source of much other inside information, and the Chapman brothers sold what seems to have been his collection as part of their "Eavenson" auction, 1903.

On the other hand, we do know which Mint official peddled the restrikes of the 1804 dollar in 1858. As the original rev. had either been rusted, broken, discarded, or destroyed, or possibly seized with the 1801-3 copy obvs., the makers of the 1804 restrikes found an unused replacement die in the Coiner's Vault for combination with the original 1804 obv. They made at least 5 impressions; for the reasons above, these had plain edges. At least one of this earliest batch was overstruck on a cut-down 1857 Berne (Switzerland) Schiitzenfestthaler (commemorative shoot ing-festival thaler), Yeoman 4-S. These thalers were struck at 392 grs. = 25.4 gms.; the solitary 1804 plain-edge coin (mi¬nus the telltale Swiss edge) weighs only 381 grs. = 24.7 gms.: far too light for a legal dollar. Theodore Eckfeldt, then barely 21, had earlier been fired from the Mint for theft, but was re-hired as night watchman to avoid disgracing his family, which had included Mint officials since 1792 (see Chap. 17, Sect, vii, introductory text). Eckfeldt connived with personnel in the Coiner's Department to make these and other coins, which he peddled through Dr. Montroville W. Dickeson's store on North Second St. near Buttonwood St. After Eckfeldt had sold four plain-edged 1804 restrike dollars at $75 each, a scandal broke out. Mint Director James Ross Snowden demanded that all be returned; Robert Coulton Davis (the Mint's favorite druggist) named names and locations, and after Snowden retrieved the coins, Davis got his reward: pattern and experimental coins unmatched in any other collections, even unto a unique brass gilt proof of the 1849 double eagle. Snowden placed one of the 1804 plain-edged restrikes in the Mint Cabinet Collection (it is on display today in the Smithsonian Institution), and reportedly ordered melting of the others.

Because this "Class II" restrike is more sharply struck than the original, it was for many years transposed with the latter in the Mint's display case, enabling Curators William Ewing DuBois and Patterson DuBois to claim falsely (for the benefit of later owners of " 1804" restrikes) that lettered-edge impressions from this second rev. die were "originals." One of the curators made many electrotype copies; these show traces of the coin's Swiss undertype.

However, beginning apparently in 1859, and continuing into July 1860, Eckfeldt and friends struck more 1804's from the same dies, using normal dollar blanks somehow obtained from the Coiner's Department; they lettered the edges of the finished coins to avoid a replay of the 1858 scandal. Today at least six are known, proofs or impaired proofs, all with varying amounts of blundering on edge letters, some with traces of die chatter (doubling) on parts of rev., all with central weakness, and a rust spot at U which varies in size. From Eckfeldt they went to William Idler, later to Haseltine; some were shipped to respectable European auction houses to give them plausible sources. On July 30, 1860, Mint Director Snowden confiscated the 1804 die (among others) and sealed them all in a carton which remained in his office vault until May 18, 1867, when his successor Henry R. Linderman opened the carton and resealed it after making an inventory (partly quoted in Breen {1977}, p. 254), only to reopen it again in 1868, make a few impressions from some of the dies (not including the 1804: There was no usable rev.), and order all the dies to be destroyed.

The roster of 1804 "Class I" or "Original" dollars follows. All are pictured in Newman-Bressett {1962}; other ills, are mentioned below:
1. Chief Coiner Adam Eckfeldt, Mint Cabinet (1838), SI. Badly cleaned proof, nicked around ERT. Clain-Stefanelli {1970}, fig. 30.

2. Adam Eckfeldt, Mint Cabinet coll., by trade May 9, 1843, to Matthew Adams Stickney, Col. James W. Ellsworth, Wayte Raymond, William Cutler Atwater, Louis Eliasberg estate. III. Eckfeldt & DuBois {1842}. Cleaned, rubbed, impaired proof.

3. Adam Eckfeldt, Nov. 1834, State Dept., April 5, 1836, King Ph'ra Nang Klao of Siam (in cased proof set of 1834), King Mongkut, King Chulalongkorn, British pvt. colls., Spink's via tester Merkin, $1 million (1979), Elvin I. Unterman 111. Newman-Bressett and Breen {1977} as part of set. Brilliant gem proof.

4. Adam Eckfeldt, Nov. 1834, State Dept., Oct. 1, 1835, Imam Sayid Sayid of Muscat (in cased proof set of 1834), pvt. colls., C. A. Walters estate:227 (with partial proof set of 1834), Henry Chapman, Virgil Brand estate, Armin W. Brand, Charles E. Green, C. F. Childs estate (Chicago). Blue-toned choice proof.

5. Adolph Weyl 10/13/1884:159 (Berlin), S. H. & H. Chap¬man, James Vila Dexter, Roland G. Parvin, H. G. Brown, Wil¬liam Forrester Dunham, Charles M. Williams, Harold Bareford:424, $280,000, RARCOA, Leon Hendrickson and George Weingart. 111. herein and in Breen {1977}, p. 251. Bril¬liant proof, dipped. Dexter (1836-99) stamped his minute initial D into cloud below O.

6. Unknown lady (ca. 1845-48), allegedly bought from the Mint; pvt. coll., E. Harrison Sanford, Lorin G. Parmelee, Byron Reed, OCL. Brilliant proof, flat stars.

7. Teller Henry C. Young (Bank of Pennsylvania, ca. 1850, supposedly retrieved from a deposit at face value), Joseph J. Mickley, William A. Lilliendahl, Edward Cogan, William Sum-ner Appleton, 1905, Mass. Historical Society, MHS 1:625, $77,500 (1970), Chicago pvt. coll., Reed Hawn, Richard E. Raneau. EF-AU, poorly cleaned.
8. Retrieved "over the counter" at exchange office of Edward Cohen, Richmond, Va., ca. 1865, Col. Mendes I. Cohen, Henry S. Adams, Lorin G. Parmelee (pvt. sale, 1878), H. G. Sampson, Maj. William Boerum Wetmore, S. H. & H. Chapman, James L. Manning (1921), Elmer S. Sears, Lammot duPont, Willis du-Pont. Included in the robbery of the duPont coins, Oct. 1967.

The single "Class II" or "First Restrike" 1804 dollar is the one in SI with plain edge, overstruck on a Swiss shooting thaler, mentioned above. Clain-Stefanelli {1970}, fig. 31.
The roster of "Class III" 1804 dollars (restrikes with lettered edge) follows. All are pictured in Newman-Bressett {1962} as
well as where mentioned.

1. "Koch & Co., Vienna," Capt. John W. Haseltine, O. H. Berg, Thomas Harrison Garrett, John Work Garrett, Johns Hopkins Univ., Garrett 11:698, $400,000, Pullen & Hanks, Long Beach 2/5/82:1076, $190,000, Sam Colavita, Tex. pvt. coll., Einstein:1736, $187,000, Rarities Group. EF.

2. "Unnamed English source," Haseltine (exhibited 1/24/ 1876), Haseltine's "Centennial Sale" 1:194 (3/30/1876), Phin-eas Adams, Henry Ahlborn, John P. Lyman, Waldo Newcomer, Col. E. H. R. Green, A. J. Alien, F. C. C. Boyd, Percy A. Smith, Amon Carter, Sr. & Jr., Carter:241, $198,000, Tex. pvt. coll. EF, cleaned. Exhibited at 1979 ANA Convention.

3. Haseltine (1883), G. M. Klein, J. Colvin Randall, Haseltine, Robert Coulton Davis, John N. Hale, R. H. Mull, Henry P. Graves, his daughter Mrs. Fullerton, Ben H. Koenig ("Fairbanks Coll."), Samuel Wolfson, Norton Simon, J. H. T. Mc-Connell, Jr. EF, cleaned. W. E. DuBois falsely called it "original" in a letter 9/17/1878, quoted in Breen {1977}, p. 253; ill. there and herein. Exhibited at 1985 ANA Convention.

4. Mint Director H. R. Linderman, James Ten Eyck, Lam-mot duPont, Willis H. duPont. Brilliant proof. Involved in the Oct. 1967 armed robbery of the duPont coins; retrieved 3/31/ 82. On loan at the ANA Museum, Colorado Springs. At Ten Eyck:394, Mehl quotes an affidavit of July 1, 1887, in which the Director's widow Emily Linderman said the price had been so high to her late husband as to require installment payments.

5. W. Julius Driefus (Alexandria, Va.), Mint Director Oliver C. Bosbyshell, Isaac Rosenthal, Col. James W. Ellsworth, Wayte Raymond, Guttag Bros., Farran Zerbe, Chase Manhattan Bank Money Museum, ANS. VF, nicked, probably some¬one's pocket piece. Accompanied by a letter attesting genuineness, signed by Mint Engraver Charles E. Barber and Mint Cabinet Curator R. A. McClure, 1894.

6. William Idler, Haseltine, H. O. Granberg, William H. Woodin, William Cutler Atwater, Will W. Neil, Edwin Hydeman, A. Kosoff, reoffered with the Dr. Judd coll.:45b ("111. Hist.," 1962), WWCI (Tucker & Hamrick), B&R, Continental Coin Co., "Swiss pvt. coll.," Superior Galleries, 2/79, Jerry Buss: 1337, $308,000, A. E. Bebee. EF, rubbed and scratched. Rust on eagle's head. Cf. CW 2/14/79, p. 1; 1/5/83, p. 57; Sports Illustrated 6/18/79.
Newman's pungent comment about the 1804 dollars remains as valid today as in 1962: "The 'King of American Coins' is an impostor, but was made for a King." Its publicity has made it possibly the most famous of American coins, though neither the rarest nor the costliest.

KNEASS'S "1804" DOLLARS AND THEIR BRETHREN

Designers, as before, Engravers, "1804," William Kneass, after Scot; "1801-3," unknown workmen. Mint, Philadelphia. Physical Specifications, as in introductory text. Authorizing Act, none. (May be legally held.)
Grade range: Irrelevant. Proofs and impaired proofs only.