1800 Wide Date, Low 8

The 1800 Wide Date, Low 8 Draped Bust Dollar combines the Wide Date obverse variety (with unusual spacing between date digits) with a Low 8 sub-variety where the 8 in the date sits noticeably lower than the adjacent digits. The 1800 Wide Date, Low 8 is one of the documented obverse date-punch varieties within the 220,920-piece annual mintage and is catalogued by the Bowers-Borckardt (BB) attribution system as a specific obverse-die characteristic. The 1800 Wide Date, Low 8 carries the standard Heraldic Eagle reverse and the Robert Scot engraving of the Gilbert Stuart obverse portrait.

Strike quality on the 1800 Wide Date, Low 8 varies across the specific die-marriage production. Most surviving examples grade VG to VF from heavy circulation in the early 1800s, with PCGS, the Professional Coin Grading Service, and NGC populations clustering at F and VF. Mint State examples are genuinely rare. The Wide Date and Low 8 attributes can be distinguished from standard 1800 dates by careful examination of the date-digit spacing and alignment under five to ten power magnification.

The 1800 Wide Date, Low 8 is a popular variety pickup for collectors documenting the 1800 obverse date-punch variations and trades at meaningful premiums above the standard 1800 baseline at every grade. The variety pairs with the 1800 Wide Date, Low 8, AMERICAI variant as the matched Wide Date pair with the AMERICAI reverse error included on the second variety. Authentication concerns center on cleaning, polishing, edge damage, and counterfeit detection; certified slabs from PCGS or NGC with BB die-marriage attribution noted on the holder are essential at any meaningful price level. Specialist Draped Bust Dollar collectors typically target the complete BB die-marriage run by year, with the matched 1795 Centered Bust / Off-Center Bust pair and the 1798 Small Eagle / Heraldic Eagle transition forming key milestones within the broader set assembly project. For the 1800 date-punch variety context, see the Draped Bust Dollar series history.