1
151
bid online at
(800) 978-COIN (2646)
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Session Three - Monday, June 2, 2014 10:00 AM
T
ONED
1801 B
UST
D
OLLAR
914
1801. B-2, BB-212, Rarity 3
.
PCGS graded EF-40
.
Nice blue and gold toning on the edges. Only 54,454
struck. Highly lustrous still within Liberty’s hair waves and
largely smooth surfaced with splendid topmost highlights
on both sides. All but fully struck for such an early issue,
with just an insubstantial touch of weakness at the eagle’s
head and neck feather which hardly matters at all. E PLURI-
BUS UNUM is complete and the ribbon on which it is
inscribed nicely separated from the lower design. The coin
has a fairly substantial advantage over 99% of similarly
graded specimens that might compete with it for your
attention and/or bid.
Pop 1; 7 finer at PCGS for the
variety.
(
PCGS # 40084
)
Historic note: “To the shores of Tripoli.” There is at the
moment a lot of discussion about undeclared wars. That is
nothing new, however. America’s first such undeclared war
took place in 1801, the year of this handsome Draped Bust
silver dollar. Conflict with the North African port city of Trip-
oli began when the Pasha of Tripolitania cut down the flag-
pole at the U. S. Consulate, a major diplomatic slur, after
the U. S. refused to pay tribute to pirates along the Barbary
Coast. Later, on the night of February 16, 1804, Lieut. Ste-
phen Decatur and his daredevil crew, with the full permis-
sion of President Thomas Jefferson, slipped aboard the
captured American ship Philadelphia as it lay docked in
Tripoli harbor, knifed the guards, set the ship afire by using
gunpowder, and rowed safely away. Finally, in 1805, the U.
S. consul in Tunis, William Eaton, collected a rabble army in
Egypt-consisting of 38 Greeks, 300 Arabs, a dethroned
pasha, and 7 marines under Lieut. Preston N. O'Bannon,
and marched 600 miles across the desert to attack Tripoli
from the rear. The phrase "To the shores of Tripoli" in the
U.S. Marines'hymn refers to this incident.
Estimated Value ........................................ $5,000 - 5,500
915
1801. B-4 BB-214, Rarity 4. NGC graded VF Details,
Obverse Scratches
. Nice even old time gray toning on both
sides. Bust Dollar coinage, having been quite high in 1798
through 1800, declined markedly in 1801-03. The Mint's bullion
depositors, primarily banks, tended to prefer half dollars and
since coinage in the early 19th century was "to order" a notice-
able increase in half dollar coinage occurred. President Jeffer-
son eventually called for the Mint to cease striking silver dollars,
since they were exported and melted almost as soon as they
were paid out by the Treasury Department.
Estimated Value ................................................... $800 - 900
