Auction Name: 2026 January 14 - 17 FUN US Coins Signature® Auction

Lot Number: 3277

Shortcut to Lot: HA.com/1390*3277

1803 $10 Small Reverse Stars, BD-3, R.4, MS64+ CACG. Bass-Dannreuther Die State c/d. Intense yellow-gold surfaces contain splendid hints of white-gold, and dazzlingly refract light due to a generous helping of luster, creating exquisite eye appeal. Abrasions are minimal, as the near-Gem grade suggests. Strike is strong, with full detail on the all-important obverse hair and reverse wing feathers. The only slight areas of weakness are confined to the periphery, and are not noticeable as such: stars 1 through 4, the reverse arrows, and the clouds below OF.

The six die marriages of 1803 eagle remarkably all share the same obverse die, limiting all die marriage differences to the reverse. This splits the six varieties into three types based on the reverse stars. The first is the Small Reverse Stars type, which comprises BD-1 through BD-4, and is by far the most common of the three. This punch is contiguous with eagle reverse dies from previous years, and in fact, the present 1803 BD-3 die marriage uses the same reverse as 1801 BD-2. The second two types have large stars on the reverse, and comprise the final two die marriages of the year. The two are differentiated by the presence of an extra star in the rightmost cloud on the BD-5. This feature was discovered by Harry Bass at the 1966 ANA Convention, as per Breen (1988). The R.7 BD-6 lacks this feature, and its reverse was also used on the 1804 BD-1. This makes 1803 BD-5, 1803 BD-6, and 1804 BD-1 the last three contemporaneously minted Draped Bust eagles. It further suggests that this punch change likely would have continued through the rest of the series had the denomination survived its discontinuation in 1804, as a similar changeover occurred on the half dollar denomination, which has a similar diameter to the eagle and thus shared hubs and punches with it. On this denomination, a Small Stars punch was used on coins dated 1801 and 1802 as well as the first two die marriages of 1803, after which it was replaced by a Large Stars punch for the last two die marriages of 1803 as well as all 1805 through 1807 die marriages.

This example is one of the finest 1803 eagles of not just the die marriage, but the design type. Above the 64 level, CACG lists just this example, and NGC lists a single 64* at the top of their census. PCGS has recorded a single 64+ and two in 65. Assuming all of these are separate examples, which is not necessarily true, then this example is within the five finest known examples of this type. Series specialists and type collectors alike should not pass up this opportunity to obtain a stellar example of this important issue.

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