Larry Miller’s Numismatic Guaranty Corp. 1794 Flowing Hair dollar graded Mint State 62 realized $1,050,000 in the Dec. 17 Stack’s Bowers Galleries auction, but even more visually impressive was the lot that followed: a 1795 Flowing Hair dollar graded MS-65 by Professional Coin Grading Service (in an older, green-label holder) with a green Certified Acceptance Corp. sticker that sold for $576,000.

Listed as Bowers-Borckardt 14 in their reference to early dollars, it is the finest-known of the Two Leaves variety.

Stack’s Bowers writes, “Its combination of superior striking quality and extraordinary surface preservation immediately evoke thoughts of a coin that was set aside soon after striking, perhaps by an early visitor to the United States Mint.”

Part of its visual appeal when compared with the 1794 dollar that preceded it can be attributed to changes in the Mint’s technology, specifically the addition of a new press for striking larger coins, that allowed for stronger strikes, with the first group of 1795 dollars struck on the new press in May of that year. This allowed for the stronger design details.

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