Back in the early days of coinage, it was not unheard of that designs would change as they would be reprimanded by the court of public opinion. When a series was planning to mint several years' worth of coins, the United States Mint would often bend to their will. That is certainly the case for this next coin in our blog series covering Whitman Publishing’s fourth edition of the 100 Greatest United States Coins. Author Jeff Garrett explains the issues behind this early gold coin that debuted just as the Mint was first opened in the late 1790s.
#94 – 1797 “16 Stars Obverse” Capped Bust, Heraldic Reverse Half Eagle
The half eagle gold coin was first introduced to the public in 1795 and featured first United States Chief Engraver Robert Scot’s Small Eagle reverse design. The public did not respond well to the image of the eagle, citing the eagle’s appearance as “scrawny” and “weak.” Scot would redesign the eagle reverse, naming it the Heraldic Eagle and using that reverse for the coinage of half eagles in 1796.
Those half eagles produced in 1797 have a bit of a different reputation than the others in the series. Their uniformity was not up to snuff, and even some of them were struck using the Small Eagle reverse die, while others were struck using the Heraldic Eagle reverse die. Those struck with the Heraldic die featured a variety with an overdate, with the 1795 dies repunching a 7 over the 5. There was also a total of 15 stars around the bust of Liberty on the obverse.
Once again, back to the lack of uniformity, there was a single example during that year that DID NOT feature an overdate but had the 16 stars on the obverse. This coin is currently at the Smithsonian Institution and will be there permanently. It was purchased approximately in the late 1910s or early 1920s for $2,500. It appeared at auctions in the 1940s and 1950s and at one point was owned by King Farouk.
In 1960, the 1797 “16 Stars Obverse” Capped Bust, Heraldic Reverse Half Eagle was valued at $2,500 in an Extremely Fine condition. By this fourth edition (2015), that rose to $1,000,000.
