1795 13 Leaves

The 1795 Capped Bust Right eagle is the first ten-dollar gold coin ever struck by the United States Mint, and the 13 Leaves reverse is the variety most collectors will encounter. Authorized by the Coinage Act of 1792 and produced after the Mint had finally secured an adequate gold bullion supply, the first delivery of eagles took place in late September 1795. Robert Scot's obverse pairs Liberty in a tall cap with fifteen stars, the count corresponding to the states then in the Union after Vermont and Kentucky had joined the original thirteen. The reverse shows a small eagle perched on a palm branch, and four of the five known die marriages for the year carry the thirteen-leaf branch.

Diagnostics start with the leaves themselves. Count the small leaves on the palm branch beneath the eagle: thirteen here, nine on the much rarer counterpart variety. The fifteen-star obverse is unique to 1795 and the early 1796 issues, since later years carry sixteen stars after Tennessee statehood. Adjustment marks, the parallel file lines used at the Mint to bring overweight planchets down to the 17.50-gram standard, appear on many genuine survivors and are an original Mint feature rather than damage, although heavily marked pieces trade at a discount. Authentic examples weigh near 17.50 grams in the 0.9167 fine alloy used before the 1834 weight reduction. Heritage and Stack's Bowers catalogers routinely attribute by Bass-Dannreuther die marriage, and an attribution from a major auction firm is the most reliable starting point for any unholdered example.

For collectors today, the 13 Leaves variety is the practical entry point to a coin that nearly every advanced gold cabinet aspires to own. Several hundred are believed to survive across all five die marriages, with the bulk grading between Fine and About Uncirculated; Mint State pieces are genuinely scarce and the highest grades reach into seven figures, as the Pogue MS-66+ demonstrated when it crossed the block at Stack's Bowers in 2015. Provenance to the Pogue, Eliasberg, Bass, or Brand cabinets adds meaningfully to value. For the broader context of how this issue evolved into the Heraldic Eagle reverse and the 1798/7 overdates, see the Draped Bust Eagle series history.