1799 Draped Bust, Heraldic Eagle silver dollar, 13 stars variety, early state B-10 reverse die. This is a spectacularly beautiful and attractive example  of the early American Liberty bust dollar with a Heraldic Eagle reverse, which  was used to design the seal of the United States of America. Liberty's hair is almost complete and the reverse eagle has a full set of feathers, the clouds above the star field are fully detailed and all 13 stars in the starfield are sharp with no wear. This coin was minted using the B-10 reverse die just at the point it began to crack. The die later cracked badly  as seen on other coins from the same dies (see below).

In addition to it's sharpness and detail, the coin has a pleasing medium gray tone with natural highlights and a bold portrait of Liberty. There is a scratch in the reverse star filed that does not detract from the beauty of the coin. The scratch is old and is often not very visible. The coin compares very well with other AU++ bust dollars and has no weak spots, such as the star field which is often weak on even better condition coins. This is a very collectible coin and few coins have more historical significance or beauty. The coin is  proved genuine by the reverse B-10 dies and die crack.




Reverse die crack under the word UNITED shows the early state of the well known B-10 fractured reverse die . My coin is the sharply detailed gray coin on the right,  compared to another coin with the B-10 die on the left.  Both coins have the die crack under UNITED, the left coin is a later strike with an additional die crack through the "O" of OF. The die crack also proves the coin's authenticity.  The die crack also proves the coin's authenicity.

The following image resulted from a photographic accident that colored the shield red, white, and blue! The flash failed and the image was recorded with stray room light, which illuminated the coin with incandescent light from the top and bluish skylight from a window on the left. The well defined horizontal and vertical lines of the shield then reflect the light from the two different directions. Note the blueish tone of the left rim. (The coin is not colored!)


Another view with a flash.



More details of the crack.