1806 Knobbed 6, 7x6 Stars

The 1806 calendar year sat in a productive stretch for Robert Scot's Heraldic Eagle half eagle, with Philadelphia striking a combined delivery that Bass-Dannreuther tabulates near 64,000 pieces. Inside that umbrella the engraving department produced two distinct obverse styles, separated by the shape of the final digit in the date and by the arrangement of the thirteen stars around the bust, and the Knobbed 6 with 7x6 stars is the scarcer of the two. The variety takes its name from a date logotype in which the upper terminal of the numeral 6 finishes in a small closed knob rather than the open spike of its Pointed 6 sibling, and the obverse field carries seven stars left of the bust and six right. Bass-Dannreuther catalogs the Knobbed 6 as its own narrow family of die marriages and treats it as a clearly subordinate population to the Pointed 6.

Authentication of a Knobbed 6 candidate begins with a magnified study of the date. Under five to ten power, the upper portion of the final 6 should resolve into a closed, rounded terminal, almost ball-like in appearance, and never the sharp open hook that defines the Pointed 6 logotype. The second confirming check counts the obverse stars: seven left of the bust, six right, with no exceptions for a genuine attribution. Specifications follow the 1792 Coinage Act standard at 8.75 grams in 0.9167 fine gold, roughly 25 millimeters across, with a reeded edge and rotated coin alignment, so weight and edge geometry will not separate this variety from the Pointed 6. A Bass-Dannreuther die marriage attribution by BD number remains the most defensible single anchor.

For modern collectors the Knobbed 6 lives in scarce-variety territory within the series, well above the year-set type coin and below only the headline rarities like the 1798 Small Eagle. Bass-Dannreuther estimates surviving population in the low hundreds across all grades, which keeps a thin but steady supply moving through major auctions. Problem-free pieces in Fine through Extremely Fine command meaningful premiums over Pointed 6 prices, and About Uncirculated or finer examples with original surfaces clear strong numbers when they appear. Provenance through the Bass, Pogue, or Eliasberg cabinets adds material weight at every grade band. See the full Draped Bust Half Eagle series history.