1799 $1 Draped Bust Silver Dollar PCGS MS61

Features of the 1799 $1 Draped Bust Silver Dollar PCGS MS61:

• Minted in the year 1799
• US - Philadelphia Mint
• MS61 Graded by PCGS
• PCGS Population: 17

Here’s a classic example from the early days of the U.S. Mint in Philadelphia. PCGS has graded 17 pieces as MS61 with 58 finer. Collectors Universe prices this issue at $32,500 in MS61. This specimen is the BB-166 variety of the 1799 dollar. There was a sole obverse die employed for the 1799s, seen here in its early die state. Perhaps this piece was among the first struck. Later on during production, it developed a network of die cracks in the right field in its final die state. The reverse features a short faux ‘apostrophe’ die lump after the second ‘S’ in ‘STATES’ and that die was used to strike BB-166 only. 

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 mostly stored in the First Bank of the United States.