Draped Bust Dollar

The story of the Draped Bust Dollar begins in 1795.

Specifications

 * Obverse Designer: Robert Scot
 * Reverse Designer:  John Eckstein
 * Obverse Design:
 * Reverse Design:
 * Edge: Lettered - HUNDRED CENTS ONE DOLLAR OR UNIT (various ornaments between words)
 * Weight: ±27.0 grams
 * Diameter: ±39-40 millimeters
 * Composition:  Silver (90%), Copper (10%)
 * Dates Minted: 1795-1804

Background
Most collectors would say that anyone with nine Draped Bust silver dollars in their collection, one of each date from 1795 to 1803, is a true specialist in the series. But the hard-core specialists in this series would tell you such a nine-year Draped Bust dollar date set is just the beginning: for a COMPLETE set, you would need at least TEN silver dollars dated 1800! And that’s just for starters! Why? Because the Draped Bust silver dollar series, in addition to being a coveted early U.S. silver dollar type, is also a variety lovers dream!

But more than its numerous variety types, the Draped Bust dollar is also the very face of “Rare United States Coins” by virtue of the “King Of U.S. Coin Rarities” being a certain Draped Bust silver dollar. Yes, you’ve probably heard of... the 1804 Silver Dollar.

History
The story of the Draped Bust silver dollar begins in 1795. In that year, it became clear to Mint officials that the Flowing Hair design on U.S. silver coins, were going to have to go. There was too much public criticism of the Flowing Hair coin designs– they were too crude, Miss Liberty’s hair looked like she was in fright, the artistry of these coins simply didn’t compare to the coinage of other countries (namely Great Britain and France). So in August of 1795, with the arrival of new Mint Director Henry William DeSaussure, sketches of a new silver dollar design (one that would also be the model for the half dime, dime, quarter and half dollar coins) were allegedly submitted by renowned artist, Gilbert Stuart. Still, it was Chief Engraver, Robert Scot who created the dies, so he is credited with being the designer of the Draped Bust silver coins.

The new obverse feature a far more classic-looking Miss Liberty bust, with hair that flowed in long graceful curls, rather than being blown back as if “in fright”, as many put it. Instead of being cut off at the neck, the Liberty bust extended down to her drapery-covered upper chest. The reverse, though featuring an eagle that differed in appearance from the Flowing Hair eagle, was still a somewhat scrawny-looking eagle, nonetheless.

In the Fall of 1795, nearly 43,000 of the new Draped Bust silver dollars were struck. But though the new silver dollar was a success on the artistic level, silver bullion deposits were on the decline. Only a few thousand dollars worth of silver deposits were brought in to the Mint by private individuals, which was the ONLY source of silver bullion for the Mint in those days. Remember, the United States wasn’t mining its own silver back in the 1790's! As a result the silver dollar mintage of 1795 (over 200,000 when you combine the Flowing Hair and Draped Bust dollars) fell to just 72,920 in 1796! The silver bullion shortage was even worse throughout most of 1797, consequently a REALLY paltry 7,776 silver dollars were struck with that date! It’s said that things were so bad, that Thomas Jefferson himself lugged some 300 Spanish pesos to the Mint to be coined into dollars!

The turnaround came in November of 1797. The Bank of North America deposited almost $30,000 worth of silver to the U.S. Mint. With this deposit, a new philosophy, at least for the time being, was implemented by the Mint. Rather than coin the smaller denominations (half dimes, dimes, quarters), the U.S. Mint attempted to attract more depositors by cranking up the production of silver dollars. The result: silver dollar production went up from just under 8,000 in 1797, to over 327,000 in 1798! Also new in 1798, was a new type of reverse: the Heraldic Eagle reverse. This reverse featured a far more robust American eagle, wings spread widely beneath a canopy of stars. One talon grasped an olive branch, in the other, a sheath of arrows. In its beak was a billowing banner that read, “E Pluribus Unum.”

Mintages continued to be more than healthy throughout 1799 and 1800, with 423,515 and 220,920 struck in those years respectively. But despite a record-large silver deposit to the Mint in January of 1800 (consisting of $45,000 worth of large French Ecu coins), silver bullion deposits began to run out late in 1800. In 1801, the number of silver dollars again declined: just over 54,454 were struck. That number declined again in 1802, with just 41,650 struck. But by 1801, the Mint had backed off their philosophy a bit of almost exclusively coining silver dollars at the expense of other denominations. Starting in 1801, the Mint began to ratchet up its production of half dimes, dimes and half dollars.

With a fairly large private deposit of silver to the Mint in late 1802, the U.S. Mint AGAIN decided to concentrate more on silver dollars than the smaller silver denominations. So in 1803, silver dollar production rose to 85,634. But all was not well with the silver dollar. Officials at the United States Mint began hearing about abuses connected with the U.S. silver dollar. It seems that in the West Indies, the U.S. silver dollar was accepted as the equivalent of the heavier Spanish 8 reales coin. So speculators began shipping large amounts of U.S. silver dollars to the West Indies to be exchanged for the heavier Spanish pesos, which would then be turned in to the Philadelphia mint as silver deposits. This silver would be coined into silver dollars, thus netting the depositors a nice little profit for their dollar-to-peso-back-to-dollar sleight of hand! Because of this unscrupulous practice, the U.S. silver dollar was not circulating in this country. President Thomas Jefferson put a stop to this abuse by simply halting production of the silver dollar altogether. Interestingly, he didn’t have the Constitutional authority to do so!

But what about the super-famous, super-rare Draped Bust silver dollar of 1804? Well, it wasn’t struck in 1804. In fact, it wasn’t struck until 1834! New 1804 Draped Bust silver dollar were created so that an 1804 silver dollar could be struck and included in a gift coin set for Middle East dignitaries. Fifteen of these super-rarities are known, though some of these are 1850's re-strikes, differentiating them from the 1830's strikes. Even the most ardent of Draped Bust silver dollar specialists abandon all hope of ever including an 1804 date in their Draped Bust dollar set.

After 1803, the United States went for 37 years without an official silver dollar coin. The dry spell ended in 1840 with the introduction of the Seated Liberty silver dollar.

Collecting
As for the 1795-1803 Draped Bust dollars (the TRUE year span in which they were struck), the 1796, 1797 and 1798 Small Eagle Reverse will be the toughest and most expensive dates in the series to obtain, BUT, given their low mintages these are not outlandishly expensive– in fact, they are not much more expensive than the more common dates of the series! The 1796 is a particularly good bargain, retailing just $825 in Good, $2,050 in Fine. The 1797 dollar retails $1,250 in Good, $3,000 in Fine. The 1798 Small Eagle Reverse retails around $1,200 in Good, $2,350 in Fine.

As for “common” dates, those would be the 1798 Heraldic Eagle Reverse, 1799 and 1800. In fact, the 1798 and 1799 will always be your most affordable 18th century U.S. silver dollars. These dates retail $600-$665 in Good, $1,100-$1,200 in Fine. But thus far, we have just talked dates and basic reverse design types. We have not yet begun to talk about the many MANY Draped Bust silver dollar varieties!

There are nine dates in the Draped Bust silver dollar series. Yet instead of showing nine lines for nine years worth of values, a recent coin values guide shows 45 lines worth of values (eight lines for the 1799 date, 10 lines for the 1800 date, etc.), each one standing for a different variety type! And that may not be all of them! I won’t go into details on each one, but among the varieties that are out there in the Draped Bust silver dollar series, you will find overdates, 13 stars vs. 15 stars, Small Eagle Reverses, Heraldic Eagle reverses, proof restrikes, close dates, wide dates, large numerals, small numerals, high numerals, 10 arrows, 13 arrows, small berries, large berries... you get the picture. Remember, in the early years of the Mint, dies were hand-engraved, so each die differed from the other. Also, with a coin as large as the silver dollar, dies wore down quickly from the stress of striking so large a piece– dies broke down quickly and had to be replaced.

Counterfeits
When searching for a Draped Bust dollar for your collection, be mindful that there are quite a number of counterfeits of this coin out there –-far more so than of any other U.S. silver dollar type. Be especially wary of purchasing Draped Bust dollars that come from the Far East. If you’re not sure, it is probably worth your while to purchase an authenticated, slabbed piece. Certainly you can save some money by buying a Draped Bust dollar with some problems: cleaned, rim bumps, holed, plugged. There are a lot of such damaged early dollars out there, but if you can live with the damage (some collectors can, some can’t) and simply like the history of the coin, you can oftentimes purchase them at much discounted prices (though they will still cost in the neighborhood of $300-$400).

Mints

 * Philadelphia Mint (No mintmark)