Attribution Sought: 1799 Bust Dollar

Just a 1799 bust dollar......I think a badge would be cheaper.

I'd like to be a member of the 1799 Draped Bust Dollar Owners Club. Hopefully, there is an initiation or hazing involved. This was graded NGC F-12.




Please excuse the scuff marks on the left obverse. It is, after all, over 210 years old.

Ha ha, chesterb! Hazing comes with being a member here.
Scuff marks? I'm 61 and have a LOT of scuffs, bruises, grey hair and a new ache or two every few days.
Coins help to relieve the "old age' issues.
Welcome to the 1799 club: "the dollar was the only silver coin made this year."
Can anyone confirm this?

My communication skillz are waaaay off on this thread! Let me try again.

Yes, the serifs on the bottom are what got my attention. I had never noticed that before. I had one of those moments of of awe noticing a detail that I had not noticed before. I have never seen one in had and have only been able to admire it from afar.

Thanks for the giggle!

YES! philadelphian, I see what you mean but, I cannot put it into words.
It might just be the fancy way people wrote letters and numbers back then.
ARGH! Coin investigation gets pretty difficult at times.
Let's just all agree to be confused together, OK?

Friends?

OK, that's what I thought you might have meant. That is called bifurcated lettering and it actually a result of a weaker strike not allowing the metal to fill the letters properly. You will notice that the wave is at the base of the uprights of the letters. When the coins are struck the metal flows outward in those uprights untill the reach the far end and then the upright fills from the far end base to the base. if the strike ends before the letter fills completely the base curves upward into the uprights. It is not a special font. Different specimens of the same variety will show differnt amounts of this curving of the bases and in some cases the letters will be fully and normally formed. This feature can be seen on some other early coins struck in screwpresses with open collars. A truly close collar restricts the outward metal flow and causes the lettering to fill faster and easier.

All my references indicate that YES, this is indeed true.

And I decided to post fresh pics of my BB-22, so that folks won't have to chase them down in an old thread just to have a peek at this raw gem. The photos are too red.. toning is more of a golden shade:




So far this impromptu 'club' seems to have seven lucky members:
matthewvincent, the O/P
mysilveryears
philadelphian
jeffrose
CoinHawkeye
g048406
chesterb

Pleeeeeze step up if you have another to show!
As for badges, I wish now my old Badge-a-Minute kit were still around. It would be cool to turn everyone's photo into a wearable pinback.

Sorry, I have to put my tongue back in my mouth. If only I could afford a coin like that. Well, I guess that will be a long way away. (15 with a part-time job lol.)