1806 Capped Bust to Right Quarter Eagle - 1806/5 Stars 7x6

Coin Details

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Description

This is the 1806/5 overdate variety of the 1806 Capped Bust to Right Quarter 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 1806 Capped Bust to Right Quarter Eagle - 1806/5 Stars 7x6 represents a Philadelphia Mint issue from the Capped Bust to Right Quarter Eagles 1796-1807 series. Standard references record 480 coins for the 1806/5 Stars 7x6 variety on its own, separately from the rest of the 1806 Capped Bust to Right Quarter Eagle issue. 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 ribbon in its beak and clouds and stars above. Multiple die varieties exist. Among the final dates of the type before another production hiatus. Struck in 91.7% gold, 8.3% silver and copper, weighing 4.37 grams, 20 mm in diameter, with a reeded edge. Cataloged as PCGS #7655.