1794 $1 (BB-1, B-1, Die State III, R-4) PCGS VF-30 The only known dies of the year. The very first silver dollar had a mintage of 2,000 pieces, of which 242 were considered unfit for circulation, leaving a total number of 1,758 released. These dollars were personally released to David Rittenhouse, first director of the Mint. He was also the person who provided the bullion for the coinage of the first silver dollars. Except for a handful of pieces, all the others were either given away to friends as gifts or spent in general commerce. As a result, only an estimated 130 pieces still remain, of which the majority are heavily circulated and/or damaged. Because of the novelty of the issue, this is still a higher number than expected.

The creation of these, now historic pieces, created many problems. First, the Mint was not equipped to strike the large silver coins. As a result, the same press had to be used that also struck the much smaller cents and half dollars. The former were struck in copper, a much softer material and easier to strike. Inexperience of Mint personnel also resulted in the dies being too wide apart, resulting in very weak strikes on virtually every known example. This is in particular the case with the left obverse stars. Finally, production of the planchets used for coinage was not easy, resulting in many defective planchets with lamination being a very common problem.

Designed and engraved by English-born Robert Scot, the flowing hair silver dollar was only struck for two years. Although the 1795 is more available and usually better produced, the historical background of this issue makes it to be much more popular. This has been the case ever since coin collecting started on a serious basis in the United States, sometime in the mid 19th century. By then however, many pieces had already been melted or were lost.

It must be noted that at the time of striking, the New Hampshire Gazette published an article on the new dollars. In this article, the design was criticized for being too weak. This however, was the result of a weakly struck coin, and not that of the execution of the design itself.

Much has been written on the premier silver dollars of the United States, and they always attract much attention when offered. The most complete work (The Flowing Hair Silver Dollars of 1794) on this issue was written and published by notable early silver dollar collector Martin Logies, who studied the majority of all known 1794 dollars, and their pedigrees.

Die states are an important part of Logies work. While Bowers only identified three different die states in his Silver Dollar Encyclopedia, Logies positively identifies a total of five different die states. He concluded that the present die state is the most frequently seen, with 84 different examples verified. This die state, number III in his listing, is identified by some light lapping on the obverse, removing most of the die clashes which occurred soon after striking the first coins (only two 1794 silver dollars are known with no die clashing).

In his memorable work, Logies described every known 1794 silver dollar which he had seen. As a result, we are able to reprint this description, with his comments on the present piece:

"Strike weakness is most visible at the bottom of the obverse (with the numerals of the date and star one particularly weak) and the top of the reverse. There is a diagonal nick under the truncation of the bust, above the numeral 4 in the date, and there are several smaller nicks between the numerals 7 and 9. The reverse displays several significant planchet lamination defects. The most significant of these compromise the TAT in STATES (likely causing the weakness in the date), but others can be seen in the eagle's left wing (viewer's right) and just above the separation of the eagle's legs. Two small rim dents above the M and R in AMERICA, and a small pit is seen to the right of the ribbon end on the right side of the wreath."

To this description we would like to add that this is a totally original coin. All defects mentioned by Logies are mint-made, and very common with this issue. The color is a handsome gray base with golden highlights. Although weakly struck at the periphery, the centers on both sides are strong for the grade.

The present piece traces its pedigree back to the George C. Slawson collection, sold by Stacks in April 1970. Later it was sold in the Bowers and Merena sale at the 1991 August ANA. A rare opportunity, this is the chance to obtain a prime example of this ever popular issue. 13 have been graded by PCGS in VF-30, with 32 graded higher.