Among all American gold coins one of the most famous is the 1796 quarter eagle without obverse stars. Offered in our sale is an especially high quality, especially memorable coin, MS-62 (PCGS) with outstanding eye appeal. The vast majority of other examples show evidence of circulation.

A list of important citations and articles about the No Stars quarter eagle would fill a small book! The first person to study varieties of this year in detail was J. Colvin Randall, as part of his system of early gold die varieties compiled in the late 1870s. Alas, no example of this work is known to exist, if indeed it was ever published.

However, scattered cross-references to the varieties appear in some auction catalogues of the era. Edgar H. Adams, who in the early 20th century worked with William H. Woodin in the examination of early gold varieties, offered important information in his notebook (now preserved by the American Numismatic Society), including the description of two die varieties for the No Stars obverse (two different reverses, the rarer apparently appearing in the William F. Gable Collection sale in 1914) and one variety of the With-Stars obverse.“The Gold Coinage of 1796,” by R.W. Julian, in the Numismatic Scrapbook Magazine, April 1967.

Walter Breen wrote extensively of the 1796 No Stars, including in his Complete Encyclopedia of U.S. and Colonial Coinage, 1988. The latest great entry is the study by John Dannreuther, based on the notes of Harry W. Bass, Jr., which is absolutely definitive. The offered coin is variety BD-2. Generation after generation, year after year, any example to appear at auction has furnished the opportunity for enthusiastic prose in a catalogue and excitement at the sale itslef.

It is estimated that just 963 coins were struck from the No Stars obverse. After this coinage, a new die was made with stars, inaugurating a type that was continued through 1807. As to why there were no obverse stars on the 1796, as here offered, it may have been that as stars are on the reverse die, the use of stars on both sides was deemed to be redundant, but later reconsidered.

Among design types of United States coins this is one of the rarest, most treasured issues. The present coin will be a highlight in the finest collection.  LOT 2324 in the upcoming Stacks Sale in Baltimore

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