Q. David Bowers
(All varieties)
Business Strikes:
Enabling legislation: Act of April 2, 1792
Designer of obverse: Robert Scot (after Stuart), model by John Eckstein
Designer of reverse: Robert Scot, model by John Eckstein
Statutory weight: 416 grains; .8924 silver, balance copper
Melting value (silver bullion value) in year minted:
Considered by Mint officials to be on a par with the Spanish dollar, and worth about $1.00 intrinsically (see discussion under Summary of Characteristics, 1794).
Dies prepared: At least 2 obverse dies, at least 3 reverse dies (including one left over from 1795)
Business strike mintage, calendar year: 7,776 (for all varieties of 1797 combined, not including pieces reserved for the Assay Commission; for 1797 the number of assay coins is not known); Delivery figures by day: February 28: 342; May 26: 1,060; June 30: 3,881; August 13: 2,071; August 28: 422.
Estimated business strike mintage of 1797-dated dollars (author's estimate): (60,000).
Estimated quantity melted: As part of exports or normal Mint redemptions.
Approximate population MS-65. or better: (URS- 0)
Approximate population MS-64: 1 or 2 (URS-1)
Approximate population MS-63: 5 to 9 (URS-4)
Approximate population MS-60 to 62: 15 to 30 (URS-5)
Approximate population AU-50 to 58: 60 to 90 (URS-7)
Approximate population VF-20 to EF-45: 1,900 to 3,250 (URS-12)
Approximate population G-4 to F-15: 725 to 1,050 (URS-11)
Approximate population for all grades combined: 2,750 to 4,500 (URS-13)
• CONDITION CENSUS: 64-63-63-63-63-63
• AVERAGE AUCTION APPEARANCE GRADE for all varieties combined: VF-24.
Characteristics of striking: Striking is irregular on 1797 dollars. Those with Small Letters reverse (BB-72) always have a weak reverse.
Known hoards of Mint State coins: None
Proofs:
None
Commentary
Silver dollars of 1797 are nearly always encountered in low grades. The 1797 9x7, Small Letters reverse, is one of the most famous of all early dollars.
Dickeson on 1797 Dollars (1859)
The following appeared in Dr. Montroville W. Dickeson's 1859 book, An American Numismatical Manual:
"It is stated that the reverse was changed in this year, and a few trial pieces struck off. We have never met with them."
This commentary is enigmatic, and apart from the standard "Small Eagle" reverse, no distinctive design is known to modern numismatists, nor has any anomalous reverse been reported in numismatic literature after Dickeson's book.
Snowden's Commentary (1860)
The Cabinet Collection of the Mint of the United States, by James Ross Snowden, 1860, p. 108, told of the coinage of 1797:
"The silver coins of 1797 have sixteen stars-one star for each state. Tennessee, the sixteenth state, was admitted into the Union in the latter part of the preceding year."
The Year 1797 in History
John Adams was inaugurated president on March 4, 1797.
Adams was to become the first president to occupy the White House (in 18OO), and also the longest-lived chief executive; he died at the age of 90. What became known as the XYZ Affair came about when France declared that Jay's Treaty of 1794 amounted to American support for the British, who were enemies of France. Adams sent a delegation (Charles Cotesworth Pinckney, of South Carolina; John Marshall, of Virginia; and Elbridge Gerry, of Massachusetts) to Paris to smooth over the situation, only to learn that three members of the French Directoire, known only as X, Y, and Z, attempted to extort money from the Americans. Pinckney and Marshall came back to report the incident, and Congress was outraged. Many members called for war, but President Adams acted as pacifist and quieted the outrage. The XYZ Affair gave rise to a slogan first used by Robert Goodloe Harper as a toast at a banquet the following year, June 18, 1798 and later used on many Hard Times (circa 1837) and Civil War (circa 1862) tokens: "Millions for defense but not one cent for tribute."
In a 1797 meeting of the American Philosophical Society, Dr. Benjamin Rush argued that black people had skin of that color because of a disease like leprosy, and used as his "evidence" the case of a Virginia black man, Henry Moss, whose skin had lightened in color after he had moved to the North. In Philadelphia, a central water supply using water from the Schuylkill River went into operation, becoming the first such municipal system in America. (An improvement, the Philadelphia aqueduct, opened on October 19, 1801.) In the sam!,! city in 1797, an epidemic of yellow fever drove many to the countryside; at the time, the cause of the scourge was not known. Eli Terry obtained the first United States patent for a clock; it was assembled from wooden components. Charles Newbold was granted the first American patent for a plow.
In England, the Soho Mint, operated by Boulton & Watt, issued large-size copper coins, including the famous "cart-wheel" two pence. The steam-powered coinage devices in use in England were far more sophisticated than anything employed at the Philadelphia Mint at the time.