1802 $1 Draped Bust Silver Dollar PCGS XF45

Here is a piece that is rich with American history, one that you will be proud to call your own. This is a rare issue, with its mintage of only 41,650. However, there are only 900 survivors today in the 21^st century. PCGS has graded 89 as XF45 with 173 finer. Collector’s Universe prices this issue at $6,750.00 in XF45.

Ann Willing Bingham at the age of 21, the alleged model for the Draped Bust coinage, as rendered by Gilbert Stuart in 1785. Image: Wikimedia Commons.

The 1802 was the next to last issue of the Draped Bust type silver dollar, which had replaced the Flowing Hair type of 1794-1795. The obverse was engraved by Robert Scot, chief U.S. Mint engraver. The same design was also presented upon the fractional copper and silver coinage as well, but it first appeared on the silver dollar.

Numismatic lore tells us that the image of Liberty upon the silver dollar and other coins was modeled upon a Philadelphia socialite, Ann Willing Bingham, from a drawing by artist Gilbert Stuart. This design change after only one year (from the Flowing Hair type) was the brain-child of Mint Director Henry DeSaussure (and probably with the encouragement of President Washington) in his desire to improve the appearance of all U.S. coinage. John Eckstein, an artist from Rhode Island, crafted a plaster model of Stuart's rendering, from which Scot prepared the dies.