1806/5 Quarter Eagle - 1806/5 $2.50 NGC MS62. BD-2, R5+, NGC MS62 This early date mint state rare 1806/5 Quarter Eagle has an unusually sharp strike with bright mint luster within its devices. It is tied for the second finest at NGC and tied for finest at PCGS. The almost cameo appearance is a result of lightly outlined devices that are set against a darker background. No wear is seen, as expected for a mint state coin, and the surfaces are original, clean, and free of distractions worthy of mention. Unlike most coins of this type that have light striking in one area or another, this piece is well struck on both sides. Full details are seen on Libertys hair, the centers of the stars, the shield, the stars above the eagle, and the clouds. Only the dentils are incomplete, lower left obverse and upper right reverse, because the coin was struck slightly off center.

As a matter of economy in the old mint, the obverse die was annealed again and given an overdate so it could be put back into production. The entire date was repunched with the 6 over the existing 1805 date. It is not known why they didnt just strike more 1805 dated coins, and it is also not known why the production run was limited. Perhaps there was no further need or perhaps the die broke. In any case, this variety is one of the rarest quarter eagles with only three that are rarer.

Thomas Jefferson chose Robert Scot to be the first Chief Engraver of the United States Mint on November 23, 1793. Scott was born in 1744 in Edinburgh, Scotland or England. (Documentary evidence is lacking as to where he was born.) 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 1780 he was made the State Engraver of Virginia. He moved to Philadelphia the next year. 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 he was advanced in years with failing eyesight. His work was somewhat less than that done in Europe at the time, and Scot was criticized for its poor quality. He was responsible for designs of most of Americas first coins. These include the Flowing Hair and the Draped Bust motifs used on the early silver coins, and the gold quarter eagle, half eagle and eagle. Scot also designed the 1794-1797 half cent, the 1800-1808 draped bust half cent, and the Thomas Jefferson Indian Peace Medal. Scot died on November 1, 1823 and was succeeded by William Kneass as Chief Engraver.

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.

The Early quarter eagle series consists on only eight dates from 1796 to 1807 with none made from 1799 to 1801 and none in 1803. The life-span of the series encompassed the presidencies of George Washington, John Adams, and Thomas Jefferson. This coin represents the second major variety of the date. The first was the BD-1 with the 1806/4 overdate and 85 stars on the obverse. The present coin, the BD-2, has a different overdate and 76 stars on the obverse. These are the only two known varieties for 1806.

The obverse design shows Liberty facing right. Below her is the date which is off center to the left. Between the date and the word LIBERTY on the left side of the coin are eight stars. Five stars follow LIBERTY down to the bust. Liberty wears a large, soft cap. Her hair flows down and also shows on her forehead. The design was probably taken from a Roman engraving of a Greek goddess. Libertys cap was certainly not a Phrygian or liberty cap. The liberty cap, emblematic of freedom, was worn by freed slaves and freed gladiators in Roman times. It was a close fitting cap used to cover a shorn head, which was one of the way slaves were identified. The oversized cap worn by Liberty has been called a turban, and the design has been called the Turban Head because of it. The reverse shows a heraldic eagle. However, Scott mixed up the positions of the arrows and olive branch. The arrows held in the wrong claw signify defiant militarism. Either Scott made an error copying the image of the Great Seal, or he deliberately changed the symbolism. Perhaps the design was a warning to France, with whom the United States was engaged in an undeclared naval war, and others to be mindful of the new countrys sovereignty. In the field above the eagle are thirteen stars and above them, seven clouds. A banner from wing to wing has the motto E PLURIBUS UNUM.

The estimated original mintage of the 1806/5 quarter eagle is 480. The R5+ designation indicates that 25 to 35 pieces are known in all grades. In its population report, NGC shows 3 in MS62 with 1 better. PCGS has only one mint state coin, an MS62 with none better. These numbers do not account for crossovers and resubmissions.