1796 Silver Dollar - 1796 Early S$1 NGC VF25. BB-61. This Draped Bust, Small Eagle 1796 Silver Dollar has nice, original toning on both sides. Shades of silver-gray, tan, and dark brown are present on the obverse with Libertys face, hair, and drapery lighter than the periphery. The reverse shows darker brown towards the rim with the eagle and wreath predominantly sliver-gray. The strike is variable, which is common for Draped Bust dollars. The obverse stars on the right are stronger than those on the left. Libertys hair and drapery lines are fairly strong, but the center of the design shows some weakness. On the reverse, the eagles wings are stronger than its breast. This lack of detail on the eagles breast is typical for the variety. The surfaces of this piece are original and clean with virtually no distracting abrasion marks. No planchet adjustment marks are present, which are also often seen on coins of this type.

The BB-61 is identified by the small, wide date with the 6 leaning toward the left. The 9 and 6 are closer to each other than the 1, 7, and 9. There is a raised dot over the 1 in the date. It is closer to the bust than the 1. At the bottom of Star 11 there is a tiny extra projection. The reverse has large letters in the legend. AMER are crowded and touch at the bases. There is a berry under the first T in STATES.

The 1796 dollar is the second type called the Draped Bust Small Eagle. It was made from 1795 to 1798. The design shows a draped bust of Liberty facing right. Above is the word LIBERTY, and below is the date. Seven six-pointed stars are to the left and six are to the right. The portrait, taken from a drawing by the famous artist Gilbert Stuart, is of Ann Bingham. John Eckstein translated this drawing to models for Engraver Robert Scot. Evidently Eckstein lost many of the nuances, which might explain why Stuarts family would not acknowledge his role in the coinage design. Dentils are near the edge on both sides of the coin. The edge is lettered HUNDRED CENTS ONE DOLLAR OR UNIT with ornamentation between the words. The reverse shows a small, unrealistic eagle poised to fly standing on a rock. Around the eagle is a wreath of laurel on the left and palm on the right. A ribbon ties the ends of the wreath together. The inscription UNITED STATES OF AMERICA encircles the design. The 1796 dollar has fifteen stars on the obverse; however, on June 1, 1796 Tennessee was admitted to the Union. It was the sixteenth state and should have had a star marking its statehood. The star was added in 1797, which suggests that all of the 1796 dies were made earlier in the year before Tennessee was admitted.

The Mint Director, Henry William DeSaussure, wished to place gold coinage in circulation and to improve the design of the other denominations especially silver. This desire is the reason he engaged Gilbert Stuart to submit a drawing for the new dollar obverse. In 1795 DeSaussure resigned his position because of illness and hostility from Congress. Many of the lawmakers wanted to abolish the Mint and continue the practice of using copper coins made at British token factories and foreign silver and gold coins. Elias Boudinot became the Mint Director after DeSaussure.

With an original mintage of 79,920, one might think that these coins are readily available; however, in its population report NGC shows a total of 399 coins graded for 1796, with only 39 for the Small date, Large letters variety. The report lists 9 for the BB-61 variety in VF condition with 24 better.