1794 Dollar Pattern - J-19

Coin Details

Description

Judd-19 is a copper die trial struck from the same dies that were subsequently used to produce the regular-issue 1794 Flowing Hair silver dollars. Unlike its companion piece J-18, this coin features the adopted obverse die with stars flanking the Flowing Hair portrait of Liberty, making it a precise copper impression of the production dies. Both the obverse and reverse dies were later used to strike the BB-1 variety of 1794 silver dollars, the only die pair used for the entire 1794 dollar issue. The reverse displays the Small Eagle within a wreath, encircled by UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. This piece was almost certainly struck to test the completed dies before the Mint committed to striking coins in silver. The coin was formerly owned by the legendary collector Virgil M. Brand and was later donated to the Smithsonian Institution. It is permanently impounded in the National Numismatic Collection. As a prooflike copper impression of the very dies that produced America's first circulating silver dollars, J-19 stands as an irreplaceable artifact of early American coinage history.

Rarity Notes

Unique (R.8). Permanently impounded in the Smithsonian Institution.

Cross References

Pollock-28