1797 $1 10x6 Stars MS(PCGS#6865)

1797 $1 10x6 Stars MS (PCGS#6865)

June 2026 Showcase Auction U.S. Coins

Lot Description: BB Die State III, Salyards Die State II. The admission of Tennessee into the Union in 1797 presented a conundrum for Mint engravers regarding adding a 16th star to the obverse. Three known obverse dies have been identified for the 1797-dated silver dollar issue with the stars arranged in two configurations. Two dies were prepared with nine stars left, seven right and a solitary die with 10 stars left, six stars right. While it had been customary to add a star for each new state, this was becoming unsustainable. In 1798 the number was fixed at 13 to reflect the original colonies, though there was a 15-star obverse that was briefly used that same year. Typical for early Mint records, the precise number struck is not known. The official mintage of 7,776 silver dollars for that calendar year is exceptionally low considering the number of coins extant for all varieties of the 1797-dated issue. In fact, Harry E. Salyards (2022) estimates that 41,872 coins were struck from the Stars 10x6 die pairing, now known as BB-71, which includes 30,372 delivered on January 5, 1798, and an additional 11,500 or so delivered February 16, 1798. One of the 650 to 1,100 believed extant, this originally preserved VF is dressed in rich charcoal-gay patina. A scratch on Liberty's cheek explains the NGC qualifier and is the only individually mentionable mark.