Owner Comments:
In 1798 Robert Scott replaced his heavily criticized Small Eagle reverse with the Heraldic Eagle reverse design. This design would continue until the mint suspended production of the Bust Dollar in 1804. The Heraldic Eagle would also appear on the rare 1804 Silver dollars, which the mint would produce starting in the 1830s.
This 1798 dollar is a very nice example of the rare Bolender 17, BB-101 die variety. In the early days of die variety research this variety was considered to be quite rare with only a few pieces known. Since the die variety studies have reached the collector base, the coin has become more common, but with an estimated population of 70 to 120 pieces, it is still rated as an Rarity 4 (estimated 76 to 200 known). This piece is also among the finest known examples since the best piece has been graded EF-45.
The obverse die for the BB-101 failed fairly quickly after several hundred pieces were struck. The obverse die shows bulges in back of Ms. Liberty's head and there is an extensive die crack on the left side from stars 1 to 7 that also resulted in uneven denticles on the left side next to the rim.
This piece is the plate coin from David Bowers' monumental work, Silver Dollars & Trade Dollar of the United States, A Complete Encyclopedia. It is listed the Bowers condition census as the "Higgins Specimen, EF-40" which was auctioned as lot #2216 in 1988.