1795 $1 Flowing Hair Silver Dollar, 3 Leaves BB-25 PCGS VF35

Here’s an attractive example of a classic work of Early American numismatic art. Take a look at the photos of this piece, with its original golden brown patina and brush strokes of russet upon the left field of the obverse. PCGS reports that there were only 16,029 of the 3 Leaves, BB-25 Flowing Hair dollar produced in 1795. Of those, PCGS has graded only 16, with just one in VF35 with 8 finer. The finest BB-25 graded by PCGS is AU58. Collectors Universe prices this popular variety at $12,500.00 in VF35. This specimen is Bowers-Borckardt Die State III. A fourth leaf in the cluster below the first ‘S’ in ‘STATES’ is in this die state, apparently because the die had become unclogged. 

Out of an original total mintage of 160,295 there are just about 4,100 pieces of the 1795 Flowing Hair dollar available to collectors today. Even though the early U.S. silver dollars weighed less than the Spanish (8 Reales or “Carolus”) dollars, in the West Indies they were trading at par. Because of that, merchants purchased Flowing Hair dollars and shipped them to the West Indies to trade for Spanish dollars.

The First Philadelphia Mint, where Spanish dollars were brought to produce more Flowing Hair dollars. Image: usmint.gov.

Then they would bring the Spanish dollars to the Philadelphia Mint to serve as bullion to mint new Flowing Hair dollars. Afterwards, they would bring the newly-minted Flowing Hair dollars to the West Indies to trade for more of the Carolus dollars. There was no seigniorage charged by the Mint for that service; consequently, it became a continuous cycle of exchange arbitrage.

After the silver dollars were exchanged in the West Indies, they were shipped off to China to compete with the Spanish dollars in trade. However, Chinese merchants did not trust U.S. dollars, which weighed less than the Spanish ones, and virtually all of them ended up being chopped, discounted, melted down, and converted into Chinese bullion called Sycee.