1802 $1 Draped Bust Silver Dollar PCGS XF-40 BB-241 CAC

1802 Draped Bust Silver Dollar, Wide Date variety

A captivating relic from the early days of the U.S. Mint, the 1802 Draped Bust dollar is a rare and storied addition to any collection. PCGS has graded 100 coins at XF40, with 262 finer, while CAC reports 3in XF40 and 9 finer (5/2024). From a mintage of 41,650 for all of the varieties, only an estimated 900 of the 'Wide Date' survive today.

The scarcity of the 1802 Draped Bust dollar stems from its lower silver content (371.25 grains) compared to the Spanish-American 8 Reales (377.25 grains), which dominated U.S. circulation. In the West Indies, U.S. and Spanish dollars traded at par, enabling merchants to exploit exchange arbitrage. They shipped U.S. silver dollars to the West Indies, traded them for Spanish dollars, and returned the latter to the Philadelphia Mint as bullion to strike new Draped Bust dollars. This cycle repeated, drastically reducing the number of U.S. dollars in circulation.

Many U.S. silver dollars were also exported in the China trade, where they were chopmarked, discounted, and melted into Chinese sycee bullion. This fascinating history underscores the rarity and allure of surviving 1802 Draped Bust dollars.

The present Bolender-6, Bowers Borckhardt-241 example was last auctioned by Heritage on February 3, 2014, and was described then as "Bowers Die State III, the usual die state for this variety. Predominantly gray-brown toning appears on both sides of this attractive dollar, with light silver high points. Scattered marks and trivial scratches on each side are consistent with the grade."