1797
$10 GOLD EAGLE, LARGE EAGLE
PCGS AU58 Click on Coin Image to
enlarge
1797
$10, Large Eagle, PCGS AU58 - $43,500.00
This
eye-appealing, premium quality early 1797 Eagle shows
bright mint luster shimmering within its devices. The
strike is bold, especially in the central portion of
the coin on both sides. We see full hair details on
Liberty and sharp details on the shield and eagle. The
dentils are strong on both sides as well. The surfaces
are clean for the grade with no distractions worthy
of individual mention. Sufficient separation in the
lines of Liberty’s hair and drapery exists to warrant
the grade, which could have even been a few points higher
on this outstanding piece.
Please contact me by email
or telephone 1-941-291-2156
to reserve this great coin.
The Type 1 reverse shows a rather
scrawny eagle standing on a branch holding a wreath
in its mouth as it looks right. For some, the eagle
looks like a chicken with oversized wings. In an arc
around the eagle are the words UNITED STATES OF AMERICA.
The Type 2 reverse, issued in 1797, shows
a heraldic eagle. However, Scot mixed up the positions
of the arrows and olive branch. The arrows held in the
wrong claw signify defiant militarism. Either Scot made
an error copying the image of the Great Seal, or he
deliberately changed the symbolism in keeping with very
warlike stance. Considering that the United States at
this time was engaged in a naval war with France (the
undeclared Franco-American War of 1798 to 1800, which
took place of the East coast of North America and the
Caribbean and resulted in the end of French privateer
attacks on U.S. shipping), the latter is probably more
likely. The French would be especially sensitive to
a message within the heraldry, and the young United
States was brash in that they had just defeated the
super power, England in gaining independence. In the
field above the eagle are thirteen stars and above them,
six (or seven) clouds. A banner from wing to wing has
the motto E PLURIBUS UNUM.The
early eagle coins have no denomination because gold
was valued by its weight and fineness as was the European
coinage of the time. As seen on contemporary Large Cents,
dentils are at the edge of both the obverse and reverse
of these coins. Thomas Jefferson chose Robert Scot to
be the first Chief Engraver of the United States Mint
on November 23, 1793. 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 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. Scot’s 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. Despite these limitations, he was responsible
for designs of most of America’s first coins.
These include the Flowing Hair and the Draped Bust
motifs used on early sliver 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 Mint’s 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. It is remarkable that any coinage of note
was produced under these conditions and that some of
those wonderful pieces survive today.
