 1795 B.14, BB.51. Off-Center Bust. Brilliant Uncirculated, with claims to the Choice category, especially on the reverse. The obverse exhibits adjustment marks which cross from rim to rim and are present on Liberty's face. Outstanding light silver toning with a blush of sunset gold over the surfaces, and the devices and lettering are accented by blue and russet hues. The fields are slightly reflective as often seen on this die pairing, as these dies were used to strike at least a few ''specimens'' which have well mirrored fields.
The Flowing Hair design had been abandoned by the mint in late 1795 for Silver Dollars, and the famous portrait painter Gilbert Stuart was employed to render the new Dollar design. Stuart is thought to have rendered Liberty from the Philadelphia beauty Ann Willing (Mrs. William Bingham). Engravers Robert Scot and John Eckstein used Stuart's drawings to create a new obverse design hub. The new style was well received, and other silver and copper denominations were converted to the Draped Bust obverse starting in 1796.
The planchet preparation process was primitive and adjustment marks are common. Silver consigned for coinage was first refined to the standard fineness, then the silver was pulled and drawn on rather primitive equipment to the exact thickness, which was difficult to keep perfectly consistent. Once the planchets were cut from the strip and weighed, it was easier to adjust them downward by filing off a small amount of silver rather than melt them down and start the process over again if the planchet was too light.
On the earlier Flowing Hair type, a ''silver plug'' was sometimes inserted through the center of the coin (both on Dollars and Half Dollars) and this process is believed to have been used to increase the weight of planchets, and thus bring them within the narrow tolerances allowed by law. The silver plugged planchet was then struck normally by the dies, but the plugs usually show on the finished coin as irregular circles surrounding Liberty's ear and the eagle's breast and nearby right field above the wing. No mint inserted silver plugs have been discovered on the Draped Bust issues, although the possibility exists.
Ex Milton A. Holmes Collection, (Stack's October 1960, lot 2233).
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