1799 $10 Small Stars Obverse (Regular Strike)

Gordon Wrubel: Quickfinder Notes: The Small Stars Obverse is found on Bass-Dannreuther varieties, BD-1-8. The Small Stars have long, thin "spiny" rays. They are rather evenly spaced and somewhat apart. The stars are also spaced FARTHER FROM THEN DENTILS. The Small Stars of this type were first used on the previous year, 1798/7. The Large Star Obverse has broad stars with short, fat rays. These are very closely spaced and even look "crowded". In fact, some of the star points nearly touch their neighbors. They also spaced CLOSER TO THE DENTILS. The Small Stars Obverse variety appears the scarcer of the two. But this variety was designated later than the Large Star and surely some of the early population data includes some Small Star coins. As of this writing, November,2013, 56 Mint State examples have been graded with nary a gem to be seen. The highest graded is a lone 64+. By contrast the Large Stars has recorded a half dozen MS-65s and one MS-66.