1799 Silver Dollar NGC AU55 CAC - 1799 S$1 NGC AU55 CAC, BB-152 B-15. Gun-metal gray and light tan combine to create an excellent effect on this Choice About Uncirculated 1799 Irregular Date silver dollar, which is the finest known for the variety at NGC and second finest at PCGS. The presence of these colors attests to the coins originality. The surfaces are extremely clean for the grade with virtually no abrasion marks visible without magnification. Just a faint trace of wear is present on the highest points: the hair above the forehead and the drapery on the bust and shoulder. The coin is well struck with strong details on the obverse stars, Libertys hair, the shield, the wings, and the clouds on the left side. The CAC sticker tells us that the coin is a premium quality piece that fully deserves the grade assigned. Numerous die cracks on both sides of the coin add interest without affecting the grade. 

The BB-152 is an Irregular Date variety. Both 9s are not properly placed, with the first tipped too far left and the second too far right. A ray from Star 13 touches the bust. Stars 3 and 4 are widely spaced, and Stars 10 and 11 are close to each other. The reverse uses the same die as the reverse of 1798. All five berries are small. A heavy die crack continues the olive branch stem to the border. The stars are in a cross pattern. All other 1799 dollars use the arc pattern. The far edge of A in STATES is over Cloud 3. 

The Draped Bust, Heraldic Eagle type dollar was made from 1798 to 1804. The obverse shows a draped bust of Liberty facing right. Above is the inscription LIBERTY, and the date is below. 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 made the models poorly, which might explain why Stuarts family refused to acknowledge his role in the coinage design. The eagle with up stretched wings and a Union shield on its breast is called a heraldic eagle. E PLURIBUS UNUM is inscribed on a banner that curls across the left wing and under the right. The inscription UNITED STATES OF AMERICA is in an arc near the periphery interrupted by the wing tips. In a cross pattern are thirteen stars above the eagles head under the clouds. The edge is lettered, and dentils are near the edge on both sides of the coin.

Robert Scot placed the arrows in the wrong talon in what some have called colossal design blunder. Arrows symbolize aggressive militarism when held in the eagles right talon, on the left side. They should have been placed in the left talon with the olive branch in the right. If this rearrangement was unintentional, it shows a new, inexperienced country that cant even get its symbolism correct. If this was a deliberate rearrangement, it shows a young country taking an aggressive stance during a time of conflict. In 1799 the country was engaged with France in an undeclared naval war. Perhaps this symbolism was being used to make a statement to France and others about the sovereignty of the United States.

The omission of the denomination was intentional. Except for its edge, the coin has no denomination-- something that might appear as a sign of ineptitude. However, since United States coinage was new to the world market of the 18th century, the term dollar would have been unfamiliar to merchants of the day. Like European coinage of the time, silver and gold pieces were valued by their weight and fineness so the denomination was largely irrelevant.

Record keeping in the Mints early years was fairly inaccurate. At the end of the eighteenth century Philadelphia had recovered from the British occupation and Revolutionary War. It was the second largest city in the English-speaking world, but it could do nothing to protect its citizens from the mosquito-borne epidemic of yellow fever. Its wealthy citizens went to the countryside to escape, and the poor grimly waited their fate. Of course these annual epidemics caused havoc with all manufacturing that required continuity, such as a coinage sequence. In addition to yellow fever, chaos at the Mint was also caused by chronic bullion shortages, coin dies that would wear out and had to be re-engraved because they were not taken out of production until they failed completely, and a Chief Engraver, Robert Scot, who was in his seventies and had failing eyesight.  

Scot was born in 1744. It is uncertain if he was born in Edinburgh, Scotland or in England. He was trained as a watchmaker in England and learned engraving afterwards. He moved to the United States in 1777, where he worked as an engraver of plates, bills of exchange, and office scales. During the Revolution, he was an engraver of paper money. In 1781 he moved to Philadelphia. He was appointed Chief Engraver of the United States Mint on November 23, 1793 by David Rittenhouse, Mint Director. His salary in 1795 was $1,200 per year. The Mint Director received only $800 dollars per year more. Scots ability to make dies was limited, and in his advanced years he had failing eyesight. His work was somewhat less than that done in Europe at the time, and Scot was criticized for its poor quality. Despite these limitations, he was responsible for designs of most of Americas first coins. These include the Flowing Hair and the Draped Bust motifs used on early silver coins and the Capped Bust gold coins. Scot also designed the 1794-1797 half-cent, the 1800-1808 draped bust half-cent, and the Thomas Jefferson Indian Peace Medal.

In its population report, NGC shows only the present coin in AU55 condition with none finer. At PCGS there is none in AU55 condition and only 1 better. CAC, as of May 2013, has confirmed only the present coin, an Irregular Date, in AU55 with none better.