1798 Capped Bust to Right Eagle - 1798/7, 7X6 Stars

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Description

This is the 1798/7 overdate variety of the 1798 Capped Bust to Right Eagle. Dies were expensive, and a serviceable die left over at the end of a year was often kept and re-dated rather than destroyed: the new digits were punched directly over the old ones. The earlier date survives underneath wherever its strokes fall outside the digits punched over it, which is why an overdate is read from the shapes that do not belong to the date as printed. The effect is in the die, so every coin struck from it carries the same remnant in the same position. The 1798 Capped Bust to Right Eagle - 1798/7, 7X6 Stars was struck at the Philadelphia Mint as a Gold Eagle in the Capped Bust to Right Eagles 1795-1804 series. Standard references record 842 coins for the 1798/7, 7X6 Stars variety on its own, separately from the rest of the 1798 Capped Bust to Right Eagle issue. Together the two 1798/7 varieties total 1,742, while the Mint delivered 7,974 eagles in calendar 1798. The obverse features Liberty facing right in a soft cap, and the reverse displays a heraldic eagle, shield on breast, holding a bundle of arrows and an olive branch, with E PLURIBUS UNUM on a scroll and clouds and stars above. Every 1798 eagle is a 1797 die re-dated 8 over 7, struck with the heraldic eagle reverse. Struck in 91.7% gold, 8.3% silver and copper, weighing 17.5 grams, 33 mm in diameter, with a reeded edge. Cataloged as PCGS #8561.