The year 1797 stands as a landmark in the annals of American history, distinguished by two significant events that shaped the nation's political and naval trajectory.
On March 4th, John Adams was inaugurated as the second President of the United States, succeeding George Washington. This inauguration was not just a routine change in the country's leadership; it symbolized the first peaceful transfer of power between Presidents in U.S. history, a testament to the strength and resilience of the young nation's democratic principles. Adams' ascension to the presidency, with Thomas Jefferson, the runner-up in the election, becoming Vice President, underscored the complexities and evolving nature of the early American political processes and the nascent electoral system. This event marked a crucial step in the journey of the United States towards establishing a stable and democratic political system, setting a precedent for future transitions of power.
In the same year, significant advancements were also taking place in the United States Navy. May 10th witnessed the commissioning of the USS United States, the very first ship of the U.S. Navy. This marked the beginning of America's foray into establishing a strong maritime presence. But the highlight came on October 21st with the launch of the USS Constitution in Boston Harbor. This 44-gun frigate, later affectionately known as ""Old Ironsides,"" would go on to play a crucial role in the Barbary Wars and the War of 1812. Its resilience and strength in battle not only proved the prowess of American shipbuilding and naval strategy but also transformed the USS Constitution into an enduring symbol of American naval heritage.
These two distinct yet interconnected events of 1797 – the peaceful transition of presidential power and the strengthening of naval forces – collectively illustrate the United States' determination to establish itself as a stable, democratic, and powerful nation on the global stage.
Draped Bust, Small Eagle (1795-1798)
A precocious country during its formative years, the United States grew quickly in size and stature throughout its first half century as an independent nation. It didn’t reach maturity nearly as fast, however, as the likeness of Miss Liberty on U. S. silver coinage.
When Liberty first appeared on the nation’s silver coins in 1794 she was youthful and vivacious, with her hair flowing freely behind her. Focusing on that feature, collectors refer to these coins as the Flowing Hair type. But it didn’t take long for this innocent- looking maiden to reach the full flower of womanhood: The very next year a new portrait showed her, in the words of coinage critic Cornelius Vermeule, as “a buxom Roman matron” having long, elegant tresses neatly tied back with a ribbon and a bow and ample cleavage visible above a fold of drapery.
This full-figured portrait has come to be known as the Draped Bust design, and it holds a significant distinction: It appears on the obverse of the 1804 silver dollar, one of the most famous and most valuable U.S. coin rarities.
For a time, the Draped Bust portrait graced all five silver coins then being issued: the dollar, half dollar, quarter, dime and half dime. The dollar got the jump on all the others, though, receiving this design partway through production in 1795. It didn’t make its debut on the other four coins until 1796.
Selection of the dollar as the new design’s first showcase underscored the primacy of that coin. The dollar was the cornerstone of the monetary system devised by the Founding Fathers, and the one-dollar coin was not only the largest silver issue but, in the view of officials overseeing the Mint, the most prestigious as well as most important. They had made that clear in 1794 when they chose to have dollars struck before anything else at the outset of silver coinage, only then giving the go-ahead for the smaller silver pieces.
Replacement of the short-lived Flowing Hair design coincided with a change in leadership at the Mint. David Rittenhouse resigned as the Mint’s first director at the end of June 1795, and his successor, Henry William DeSaussure, set out at once to improve the designs of all the denominations, particularly those struck in silver.
Possibly at the urging of President George Washington, DeSaussure engaged portraitist Gilbert Stuart to fashion a new design for the silver coins. Stuart prepared a drawing of the Draped Bust figure, reportedly basing the portrait on Philadelphia socialite Ann Willing Bingham, said to be the most beautiful woman of her time. This sketch was translated to plaster by artist John Eckstein of Providence, Rhode Island, and the dies were executed by Mint Chief Engraver Robert Scot.
Though the Flowing Hair portrait of Liberty was retired, the Mint kept the reverse essentially the same. It features a small, naturalistic eagle encircled by a wreath, with UNITED STATES OF AMERICA inscribed around the border. On the Draped Bust coinage, this “Small Eagle” reverse does reveal subtle refinements: The eagle seems more graceful, for example, and it’s perched upon a cloud instead of a rock (as had been the case on the Flowing Hair coinage). In addition, the wreath has been modified: The previous laurel branches have given way to branches of palm and olive. LIBERTY and the date are the only inscriptions on the obverse. Lettering on the edge proclaims the statement of value: HUNDRED CENTS ONE DOLLAR OR UNIT, with decorations separating the words.
The entire first-year production of Draped Bust silver dollars took place in the last two weeks of October, 1795 and totaled a modest 42,738 pieces. That’s barely one-fourth the mintage of 1795 Flowing Hair dollars; some 160,000 of those had been struck earlier. Nonetheless, both types historically have commanded comparable premiums. The Flowing Hair dollar benefits from its wide appeal as a type coin: That series was made for only two years, and the 1794 is a major rarity, so the 1795 is the only realistic option for most buyers.
The Draped Bust/Small Eagle dollar didn’t last much longer. It remained in production for only four years, from 1795 to 1798, before the small eagle was replaced by a large, heraldic eagle. The Draped Bust portrait retained its spot on the obverse until production of dollars was suspended in 1804 because of heavy melting. When dollar coinage resumed in 1836, the obverse bore a new Seated Liberty portrait.
Only about 450,000 Draped Bust/Small Eagle dollars were issued in the four years combined, nearly three-fourths of them in 1798. Noted scholar Walter Breen estimated that just 3 percent survive. The low point came in 1797, when a mere 7,776 were produced. The rarest variety is the 1797 dollar with 9 stars to Liberty’s left, 7 to her right and small letters in the reverse legend. The low production figures are understandable, given the fact that during the 1790s a dollar represented a full day’s pay for some Americans—and a living wage, at that.
Although the series is short, Draped Bust/Small Eagle dollars come in more than a dozen major varieties. Some of these distinctions are based on the size of the date and the inscriptions. Most of the varieties, however, are tied to the number of stars on the obverse and the way they are arranged. There were 15 stars in the first two years, representing the number of states in the Union at the time. With Tennessee’s admission, the number rose to 16 in 1797. Then, in 1798, it dropped back to 15 (apparently because old dies were being used) before ending up at 13 for the 13 original colonies.
The collecting of this series by varieties took a major leap forward with the publication in 1950 of a reference book by Milford H. Bolender. Using his own specialized collection of these coins as a foundation, Bolender described and illustrated each variety known to him. After going through several editions, his book was extensively revised by Jules Reiver in 1998. Another reference by Q. David Bowers, with the assistance of Mark Borckardt, was published in 1993, correcting and updating the Bolender book and assigning a new numbering system. Thus, the varieties of these dollars are identified by either Bolender (B) numbers or Bowers/Borckardt (BB) numbers.
Dollars of this type are scarce and highly collectible even in lower circulated grades and are rare in mint condition. Points to check for wear are the hair above Liberty’s forehead and the crest of the eagle’s breast.
Although the series is short, it is generally collected by type alone because each component is so scarce. Proofs of these coins weren’t struck, but a few presentation pieces display prooflike surfaces.
Draped Bust, Large Eagle (1798-1804)
Throughout the 1790s heads continued to roll off the guillotines of France as that country struggled to affirm the democratic principles it had first espoused in 1789. Some Americans watched nervously from across the Atlantic and wondered if the violence of the mob would spread to this country. But America’s democratic principles were firmly established, as it had already undergone the national trauma of revolution, war and two changes of government since 1776. By 1798 democracy in America was beginning to come of age.
This maturity of the United States was evident in the late 1790s not only by America’s refusal to be pulled into the war between England and France; it can also be seen in the changes in the nation’s unit of currency, the dollar. The design modifications of 1798 were actually grounded in events that began three years before. When a new and improved coin press arrived at the Mint in Philadelphia in the spring of 1795, it made improvements possible both in the quantity of coins produced as well as their quality. The new press was able to properly stamp out the large sized dollar coins and include all the design details in the finished product.
The Draped Bust dollar obverse was designed by noted artist Gilbert Stuart in an attempt to elevate U.S. coinage designs to “world class” stature. This design marked a maturing of the “young” Liberty of the preceding Flowing Hair design to a more “matronly” concept of the emblematic national symbol. In 1798 the young hatchling eagle seen on the reverse of the earlier dollar was replaced with an older and more naturalistic eagle, one that was more in keeping with heraldic iconography. One oversight in the iconography of the Heraldic Eagle reverse, though, was in the placement of the arrows in the eagle’s right claw—the more honorable placement in heraldry—leaving the olive branch in the left or less honorable claw. This more warlike placement of the arrows was repeated on all heraldic eagle coins of the period.
During the six years that Draped Bust Heraldic Eagle dollars were struck 1,153,709 coins were produced, all in the Philadelphia mint. There are dozens of die varieties, most involving only a minute difference in the placement of the stars, numerals, letters or other design elements.
But there are several important design changes in the series that are of interest to a wide range of collectors. On 1798 dollars there are two different patterns of stars on the reverse above the eagle’s head. The earlier configuration, known as the “cross pattern” was a modification of The Great Seal of the United States, with the stars arranged in two triangular groups of six joined by a single star in the middle. The later design was much simpler. Known as the “arc pattern,” it had two parallel rows of stars: the top row had six, the second row five stars, followed by one star on either side of the eagle’s head. No one knows exactly why the star patterns were changed, but the earlier “cross pattern” configuration is generally the scarcer of the two.
An interesting blunder occurred in the reverse stars in 1799. A working die was produced that had 15 stars, rather than the required 13. The error was discovered before any coins were struck, and rather than discard the die, the clouds were enlarged over the offending stars, covering all but the tips of these extra star points. In 1800 a die was cut that had an extra letter A at the end of AMERICA. The extra letter was polished away, but only the right portion of the letter was effaced, leaving what appears to be a letter I, thus creating the well-known AMERICAI variety.
One of the most famous coins ever struck is considered a part of the Draped Bust series—the 1804 dollar. While the Mint struck dollars in 1804, all were produced from leftover dies dated 1802 and 1803, and no dollars were struck with the date 1804. However, thirty years later when several presentation sets of U.S. coins were needed for diplomatic gifts, the Draped Bust design was resurrected and dated 1804, as that was the last year the dollar coin had been struck. These were the so-called “original” or Class I 1804 dollars. The Class II and Class III 1804 “restrikes” were produced in the late 1850s for prominent collectors of the day. Only 15 specimens are known of all three types.
No true proofs are known from this series but, as with the 1804 dollar, Mint officials were only too pleased to oblige collectors in later years. During the 1870s modern looking proof dollars appeared with the dates 1801, 1802 and 1803. These fantasy pieces are highly prized by collectors.
Grading Draped Bust dollars can be a challenge. Certain die varieties are always weak on the stars above the eagle’s head because of die failure. Other varieties will show occasional areas of weakness due to die breakage. In high grades, signs of friction first begin to show on the highest points of the hair above the forehead and along the shoulder and bust line of Liberty. On the reverse, wear first shows on the clouds, then the eagle’s breast feathers. On weakly or irregularly struck coins, these design details may not be fully brought up. Counterfeits are known, and a number of fairly deceptive pieces dated 1799 surfaced in the early 1980s. These coins all have common characteristics and display dull, lifeless surfaces. Authentication of any questionable Draped Bust dollar is highly recommended.
In lower grades Draped Bust dollars are widely collected by die variety specialists. Coins in XF and better condition are usually sought out by those who collect by date and major variety. For type purposes, most collectors want a single, high grade, problem-free example of a common, well produced variety. Such coins are quite elusive today and usually bring a substantial premium when offered.
After 1800 silver dollars began to disappear from circulation. Many U.S. dollars were shipped overseas or melted for their high intrinsic value. Dollar production stopped altogether in 1804, and the next generation did not have a current circulating dollar coin until a brief artistic renaissance came to the Mint in 1836, led by Christian Gobrecht. Over the two centuries since their manufacture, the short-lived series of Draped Bust dollars has continued to be one of the most widely collected in U.S. coinage.
Coin Descriptions Provided by Numismatic Guaranty Corporation (NGC)
