High-grade
1797 Draped Bust, Small Eagle dollar found
Fort Lauderdale,
Fla., dealer Tom Pilitowski announced that he has discovered
a high-grade example of the 1797 Draped Bust, Small Eagle, Small
Letters dollar.
The Professional
Coin Grading Service assigned it an AU-50 grade. Pilitowski
said it is just the second known AU example and is the finest
one certified by PCGS to date.
Population
reports from PCGS and the Numismatic Guaranty Corp. show just
29 examples in all grades and 24 are VF and lower, Pilitowski
said.
Pilitowski
says the 1797 Small Letters dollar is the best known variety
of the Draped Bust, Small Eagle dollar. In his book Silver Dollars
and trade Dollars of the United States, Q. David Bowers said,
"It may well be the most famous variety after 1794 and before
1804," Pilitowski quoted.
The coin
is Bowers-Borckardt variety 72, or Bolender 2.
Pilitowski
said that the Norweb example was Fine-15 and the Garrett specimen
was EF-40.
