1799 $1 Draped Bust Silver Dollar, BB-157 PCGS AU50

Here's a classic American coin from the last gasps of the 18th century. PCGS has graded 135 as AU50, with 358 finer.

The mintage of the 1799 Draped Bust silver dollar was plentiful for its time: 423,515.  However, the surviving total population is approximately 6,500. That is because a great majority of the Draped Bust dollars were shipped to the East to be part of the China trade. The dollars of 1799 were worth $1.03 when they were produced at the Philadelphia Mint, which made them excellent candidates for instruments of international trade. Such coins were rarely seen in American commerce. Those that survived were hoarded, collected, or stored in the Bank of the United States.

Ann Willing Bingham, the alleged model for the Draped Bust coinage, as rendered by Gilbert Stuart.

The year 1799 was the fifth year of the Draped Bust type silver dollar, which replaced the Flowing Hair type of 1794-1795. The obverse was engraved by Robert Scot, chief engraver. This design also appeared upon the fractional copper and silver coinage as well, but first appeared on the dollar. Legend tells us that the visage of Liberty was modeled upon a Philadelphia socialite from a drawing by artist Gilbert Stuart. This design change after only one year (from the Flowing Hair type) was the brain-child of Mint Director Henry DeSaussure (and probably with the encouragement of President Washington) in his desire to improve the appearance of all U.S. coinage. John Eckstein, an artist from Rhode Island, crafted a plaster model of Stuart's rendering, from which Scot prepared the dies.