Desirable 1794 B-1, BB-1 Dollar, VF25

1794 $1 VF25 NGC. B-1, BB-1, R.4. As the first U.S. silver dollar, the 1794 is always in great demand from specialists and general collectors, including first-year of issue type collectors. The demand far exceeds the limited supply of just 130 examples that have survived since they were minted on October 15, 1794. Just 1,758 coins were struck prior to that delivery. Production of these first silver coins was delayed 20 months from the initial coinage at the Philadelphia Mint, due to unforeseen circumstances. In order to handle precious metals, Henry Voigt and Albion Cox were each required to post a substantial bond of $10,000, an bond neither could provide. Eventually, the bond requirement was reduced to $5,000 for Voigt, and $1,000 for Cox. Posting those reduced bonds paved the way for precious metals coinage.
Before silver dollars could be coined, a supply of silver was necessary. The first deposit of silver was dated July 28, 1794, consisting of about 8,000 troy pounds of French silver coins, found to be well below the standard purity for American coinage. Mint Director David Rittenhouse made his own deposit of $2,000 in silver on August 29, 1794, destined to be the silver used for the new dollars.
Once coinage of these silver dollars finally commenced, a new problem was discovered. The coinage press that had served admirably for the softer and smaller copper coinage, was inadequate for production of the larger and harder silver dollars. As a result, nearly all examples show some areas of weakness, mostly at the bottom and left obverse, and left and top reverse. The present specimen is a perfect illustration.
The actual coinage production may have been as many as 2,000 pieces, according to the late Jack Collins who quoted the conjecture of Walter Breen, who suggested that the 242 additional pieces were all used as planchets for 1795 silver dollars. The entire mintage of 1794 silver dollars, all 1,758 coins, were delivered to David Rittenhouse for his personal use. He may have given some out as presents to family and friends, or he may have spent the entire lot, to get them in front of the public.
Jack Collins, in his unpublished manuscript on 1794 dollars, wrote: "The owner of a 1794 dollar in any grade, no matter how low, possesses a precious historic relic: one of the first federal silver coins, made on the initial day of silver coinage, of the first federal design for circulation with eagle or stars; a coin made from David Rittenhouse's own bullion, and personally owned and given or traded by David Rittenhouse himself."
This splendid piece has lovely pewter-gray surfaces with a few minor marks, including a thin scratch in the left obverse field that identifies it as the Herbert Bergen coin, a piece that has not been offered since 1979. The date and the first four stars are extremely weak, as are nearly all of UNITED STATES on the reverse. The weakness is typical of nearly all 1794 silver dollars. Overall, it is an outstanding and desirable example of the coinage, and a chance to own a coin whose history dates back to Director Rittenhouse himself.
Ex: Earl Parker (1946); Herbert M. Bergen Collection (Abner Kreisberg and Jerry Cohen, October 1979), lot 1338; Jim Payette (New Hampshire Numismatics); Jim McGuigan; a Pennsylvania collector.(Registry values: N10218) (#6851)

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