Rare
1796 $2.50 Gold, With Stars NGC AU58 . - $155,000. Click on Coin Image to
enlarge
In
its population report, NGC shows 7 1796 With Stars certified
in AU58. The first United States Quarter Eagle is dated
1796. There are two varieties, with and without stars.
The With Stars type is also extremely rare, desirable
and in demand by date collectors and investors. All
early quarter eagles are rare and sought by collectors
and specialists in all conditions.
Please contact
me by email
or telephone 1-941-291-2156
to reserve this great coin.
President Thomas Jefferson appointed
Robert Scot Chief Engraver of the Mint on November 23,
1793. Although he was criticized for his designs, they
were the first struck for the United States. Scot had
been an engraver of paper money during the Revolution.
His ability to work as a die cutter was somewhat limited,
and he had failing eyesight. Despite these limitations
he engraved dies that created the first copper, silver,
and gold coinage. The coins he produced had errors,
and they were not the same quality as European coinage,
however, Congress would not allow a European firm to
contract the work. It was the best that the young country
could produce at the time.
The obverse design of the quarter eagle
shows a full figured bust of Liberty facing right with
the date below and slightly to the left. Above the date
are eight stars on each side of LIBERTY, one for each
state of the Union at the time, including newly admitted
Tennessee. Subsequent dates of this design type had
different arrangements of stars, including seven and
six, and eight and five. Liberty is wearing an oversized,
soft cap. Her hair shows on her forehead and flows down
the side of her face and neck. The bust is draped in
a kind of classical design, which was designer Robert
Scot’s goal. However, the ancients never used
drapery the way Scot did. His bust is draped more like
a head waiting for a body to be sculpted.
The source of Scot’s obverse design
is probably a Roman engraving that copied a Greek goddess.
In Scot’s mind the cap may have been a symbol
of liberty; however, a Phrygian cap never looked like
this one. A true Phrygian, or liberty cap was a close
fitting, egg shaped cap that was worn by slaves and
freed gladiators in Roman times. Slaves had shaved heads
or very short hair. The cap covered this mark of slavery
to show the wearer was a free man. The cap worn by Liberty
has been called a turban, and because of it the design
has been called the Turban Head. It is interesting to
note that President Jefferson did not feel that the
liberty cap was an appropriate symbol of freedom for
the United States. He pointed out that we were never
slaves and the Phrygian cap was used for slaves that
had been freed. Perhaps because of its use in France
and elsewhere in Europe, the Phrygian cap remained an
important symbol on early United States coinage.
The coin’s reverse is an adaptation
of the Great Seal of the United States. The legend UNITED
STATES OF AMERICA surrounds the design. A banner over
the eagle’s right wing and under the left is inscribed
E PLURIBUS UNUM. Sixteen stars are between the banner
and the clouds above the eagle’s head. Other dates
had various arrangements of stars, including fourteen
in a cross and thirteen in an arc. The shield, with
its sixteen stripes, represents the Union. Some other
dates had thirteen stripes on the shield. Mint Director
Elias Boudinot realized that additional territories
would become new states. Obviously, the number of stars
and stripes had to be fixed because they could not increase
indefinitely. At some time in 1797 he ordered Scot to
limit the number of stars and stripes to thirteen for
the first states. However, he left the placement of
the stars to Scot.
In its talons the eagle holds the traditional
symbols of war and peace, the arrows and olive branch;
however, in an incredible blunder Scot mixed up the
positions of arrows and olive branch. Traditionally
the olive branch is held in the eagle’s dexter
or right, honorable, claw. In Scot’s version,
the arrows are honorable and the olive branch is in
the less honorable or sinister claw. This mistaken symbolism,
if intended, shows either defiant militarism or political
stupidity. On the other hand, if not intended, the mistake
shows a blundering young country that can’t even
get its symbolism correct.
