1795 Capped Bust Right Eagle. BD-5, Taraszka-5. Rarity-5. 13 Leaves. AU-55 (PCGS). OGH.

An outstanding example of this landmark gold issue from the earliest days of U.S. Mint coinage. Beautiful orange-olive surfaces are vivid and highly lustrous, with the fields revealing considerable prooflike reflectivity. The design elements are more satiny in texture, and most possess a remarkable fullness of strike for a Capped Bust Right eagle. The only mentionable softness is confined to the upper right obverse and lower right reverse borders, where the denticulation is absent and the tops of the letters ERTY in LIBERTY and MERI in AMERICA are indistinct. The culprit here is a concentration of light adjustment marks (as made) in the former area, applied to the planchet by Mint personnel to bring the weight down to within the authorized range. There are no post-production marks of note, and the eye appeal is outstanding. BD Die State e/c. BD-5 is the final die marriage produced for the 1795 Capped Bust Right eagle, and it is also the scarcest of the four associated with the 13 Leaves Guide Book variety. This variety was created when the early demise of the BD-4 obverse forced Mint personnel to return the obverse die of the BD-2 and BD-3 varieties to production. This obverse, therefore, became the workhorse of the issue, appearing in three different marriages. No die states of this variety are known other than BD Die State e/c, represented here, so it is likely that Mint personnel relapped both dies before using them in the BD-5 combination. This relapping points to clashing in the BD-4 marriage that undoubtedly contributed to (if not caused) the terminal damage to the obverse of that variety. The workhorse obverse of BD-2 and BD-3 was probably relapped as a matter of course to prepare it for one final press run in the BD-5 pairing. With fewer than 50 coins believed extant, BD-5 represents a significant find whenever an example appears on the market. The present example is a superior quality Choice AU that will appeal to advanced type collectors and early gold variety specialists.

PCGS# 8551. NGC ID: 25ZU.

From the Andrew M. Hain Collection.

Estimate: $ 100000