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Flowing Hair Dollars

Published April 19, 2026

Dollars

Coin Design History

Flowing Hair Dollars (1794–1795)

Collectors Key Editorial  •  Dollar Series
Author NameChris D.Date PublishedApril 19, 2026 DenominationDollar Years Issued1794–1795 DesignerRobert Scot Composition89.24% Silver, 10.76% Copper Weight26.96 grams (416.05 grains) Diameter39–40 mm EdgeLettered: HUNDRED CENTS ONE DOLLAR OR UNIT MintPhiladelphia Total DeliveredApproximately 162,053

The Screw Press Was Too Small, the Planchet Was Undersized, and the First 1,758 Dollars Were All That Could Be Saved

The Coinage Act of 1792 authorized a national mint and defined the dollar as the monetary standard of the new republic. Engraver Robert Scot, commissioned by Thomas Jefferson in November 1793 following the death of Joseph Wright, prepared the dies for the first silver dollar in the following year. His obverse placed a right-facing bust of Liberty with loose, flowing hair, LIBERTY above, the date below, eight stars to the left and seven to the right. The reverse depicted a small, primitive eagle perched on a cloud within an open wreath, UNITED STATES OF AMERICA surrounding. The denomination was placed not on the face of the coin but on its edge, lettered HUNDRED CENTS ONE DOLLAR OR UNIT in a formula that declared the coin's value in the clearest possible terms. The denomination on the edge rather than the face is specific to the Flowing Hair and early Draped Bust dollars and reflects the prevailing convention of the Spanish milled dollar on which the design's proportions were modeled.1

Production in October 1794 immediately exposed a problem: the Mint's screw press had been built for coins no larger than a half dollar, and the dollar planchet, at 39 to 40 millimeters and 26.96 grams, exceeded its capacity. Most of the approximately 2,000 coins struck were weakly defined in the centers, particularly on the lower-left obverse and the corresponding reverse area. Mint Director David Rittenhouse, who had personally provided the silver for the first coinage, approved delivery of 1,758 coins on October 15, 1794. The remainder were held back and subsequently used as planchets for 1795-dated coins. Production then halted entirely until a more capable press could be built. The first delivery under the new press, totaling 3,810 pieces, followed on May 6, 1795. All subsequent Flowing Hair dollars, and all coins of this design through the Draped Bust type's adoption in October 1795, were struck on that superior equipment.2

The 1794 Dollar Is the First Silver Dollar Struck by the United States Mint, and Approximately 150 Are Known

The 1794 Flowing Hair dollar was struck from a single die pair. That fact, combined with the 1,758-piece deliverable quantity and the subsequent two centuries of attrition, means that the surviving population is between 135 and 150 examples. Most are heavily circulated; the coin entered commerce in a young republic that used its coinage hard. Understanding the 1794 dollar requires holding two things simultaneously: it is the foundational silver coin of the republic, the object that gave the monetary unit defined by the Constitution its physical form, and it is also a numismatic article so rare that most collectors will never own one. The vast majority of examples that come to auction appear in grades between About Good and Very Fine. Mint State examples are extraordinarily scarce. The finest known, graded PCGS Specimen 66, represents the best-preserved survivor of the original striking and was handled with exceptional care from the moment it left the press. It sold at Stack's Bowers Galleries in January 2013 for $10,016,875, then the highest price realized at auction for any coin.3

The 1794 dollar has no die varieties accessible to the collector. There was one obverse die and one reverse die, producing one combination. What variation does exist among survivors reflects differences in die state, strike quality, and the amount of wear accumulated over more than two centuries. Several examples are known with a small silver plug set into the center of the coin, approximately 8 millimeters in diameter, inserted at the Mint to correct underweight planchets. The plug was driven into a drilled hole in the blank before striking; the subsequent impression from the dies obscures the plug on well-struck coins but leaves it detectable on many survivors. This practice, documented for both 1794 and 1795 issues, is among the more tangible physical records of the early Mint's improvised production methods.4

The 1795 Has Varieties, but the Coin Most Collectors Pursue Is Accessible at a Price

The 1795 Flowing Hair dollar was produced in far larger quantities than the 1794, with approximately 160,295 delivered before the Draped Bust design replaced the Flowing Hair type in October 1795. The precise split between Flowing Hair and Draped Bust production within the 1795 calendar year is not fully established from Mint records; some portion of the reported total may represent Draped Bust strikings. Multiple die pairs were used, giving rise to a series of documented varieties. The standard classification is that of Bowers and Borckardt, who assigned sequential BB numbers to all early dollar varieties; the 1795 Flowing Hair dollars run from BB-1 through BB-29. The older Bolender classification (B numbers) is still referenced by veteran specialists. The principal collecting distinction among 1795 varieties turns on the reverse leaf count below the eagle's wings: the Two Leaves variety (BB-1) is the scarcest, while the Three Leaves varieties (BB-5 through BB-7 and related pairs) are the most frequently encountered.5

For the collector who approaches the Flowing Hair dollar as a type rather than a variety series, the 1795 is the practical acquisition. Examples in Fine through Very Fine are available at major auctions with regularity, offering genuine early federal coinage with traceable Mint history at prices that, while substantial, are achievable. Mint State survivors exist and appear from time to time; a PCGS Mint State 64 example realized $705,000 at Heritage Auctions in August 2020. Gem (Mint State 65 or finer) 1795 Flowing Hair dollars are genuine rarities and belong in the same category of sustained patience and preparedness that defines collecting at the highest level of any early series.6

The Flowing Hair dollar is a two-date series in which one date is among the most famous coins in existence and one is available at a price. The distinction matters because "completing" the series means something different here than it does elsewhere. A collector who acquires a circulated 1795 in Very Fine has a legitimate example of the type and the only design used on the first silver dollar struck by the republic. What they do not have, and cannot have without extraordinary means, is the 1794. The series rewards collecting it on the terms it actually presents rather than the terms a complete date set implies.

Building the Set

A type set requires one coin: a 1795 in any grade. The most accessible approach for the collector new to early dollars is a Fine to Very Fine example of a Three Leaves variety (BB-5 through BB-7), which provides genuine contact with the first silver dollar design at a cost that reflects the series' status without requiring the capital commitment of higher-grade pieces. Collectors who wish to extend further have two paths: pursuing the 1795 in higher grades, where condition rarity becomes the governing challenge, or pursuing specific die varieties under the Bowers-Borckardt system, where the scarcest pairings require the same kind of patience and market surveillance as any early American rarity. The 1794 is effectively a separate collecting target altogether, one that appears at major auction rarely and at prices that reflect its foundational significance. The controlling specialist references are Bowers, Q. David, and Borckardt, Mark, Silver Dollars and Trade Dollars of the United States: A Complete Encyclopedia (Wolfeboro, NH: Bowers and Merena Galleries, 1993), and Bolender, M. H., The United States Early Silver Dollars from 1794 to 1803, 4th ed. (Iola, WI: Krause Publications, 1982).7

Notes

  1. Scot's commission from Jefferson in November 1793 following Wright's death; the obverse description (right-facing Liberty, flowing hair, LIBERTY above, date below, eight stars left and seven right); the reverse description (small eagle on cloud within open wreath, UNITED STATES OF AMERICA); the edge lettering HUNDRED CENTS ONE DOLLAR OR UNIT; the placement of the denomination on the edge rather than the face; the modeling on Spanish milled dollar proportions; and the composition (89.24% silver, 10.76% copper, 26.96 grams, 39–40 mm) are from Bowers, Q. David, and Borckardt, Mark, Silver Dollars and Trade Dollars of the United States: A Complete Encyclopedia (Wolfeboro, NH: Bowers and Merena Galleries, 1993), pp. 1–30.
  2. The October 1794 production and the inadequacy of the screw press for a coin larger than a half dollar; the center weakness on most 1794 strikes; Rittenhouse's personal provision of the silver; the delivery of 1,758 coins on October 15, 1794; the retention and subsequent recoinage of the rejected pieces as 1795 planchets; the halt in production; the new press; and the first 1795 delivery of 3,810 coins on May 6, 1795 are from Bowers and Borckardt, Silver Dollars and Trade Dollars, pp. 1–50, and Taxay, Don, The U.S. Mint and Coinage (New York: Arco Publishing, 1966), pp. 90–110.
  3. The single die pair for the 1794; the surviving population of between 135 and 150 examples (Logies' 2010 census identified 134 distinct specimens; Stack's Bowers' specialist account gives 135 to 150); the predominance of circulated survivors; and the finest known PCGS Specimen 66 are from Bowers and Borckardt, Silver Dollars and Trade Dollars, pp. 50–80. Auction record: Stack's Bowers Galleries, January 2013, PCGS Specimen 66, $10,016,875.
  4. The silver plug, approximately 8 mm in diameter, inserted to correct underweight planchets before striking; the obscuring of the plug on well-struck coins; the documentation of the practice for both 1794 and 1795 issues; and the plug as evidence of the early Mint's improvised production methods are from Bowers and Borckardt, Silver Dollars and Trade Dollars, pp. 50–100, and from Haugh, John J., "Some Observations About Early Dollars (Flowing Hair and Draped Bust, 1794–1803)," NSDR Journal, vol. XIV, no. 1 (February 1997); and from Bowers and Borckardt, Silver Dollars and Trade Dollars, pp. 50–100.
  5. The 1795 Flowing Hair dollar's approximate mintage of 160,295; the uncertainty about the exact split between Flowing Hair and Draped Bust production within the 1795 calendar year; the Bowers-Borckardt classification (BB-1 through BB-29 for 1795 Flowing Hair varieties); the Bolender classification (B numbers) as the older system still referenced by specialists; the Two Leaves variety (BB-1) as the scarcest; and the Three Leaves varieties (BB-5 through BB-7) as the most frequently encountered are from Bowers and Borckardt, Silver Dollars and Trade Dollars, pp. 80–130, and Bolender, M. H., The United States Early Silver Dollars from 1794 to 1803, 4th ed. (Iola, WI: Krause Publications, 1982), pp. 1–50.
  6. The availability of 1795 Flowing Hair dollars in Fine through Very Fine at major auctions; the status of Mint State survivors; and the Gem rarity are from Bowers and Borckardt, Silver Dollars and Trade Dollars, pp. 80–130. Auction record: Heritage Auctions, August 2020, PCGS Mint State 64, $705,000.
  7. The type set recommendation; the Three Leaves variety as the most accessible collecting entry; the two paths for extended collecting (condition rarity versus die variety pursuit); the 1794 as a separate collecting target; and the primary specialist references are from Bowers and Borckardt, Silver Dollars and Trade Dollars of the United States: A Complete Encyclopedia (Wolfeboro, NH: Bowers and Merena Galleries, 1993), and Bolender, The United States Early Silver Dollars from 1794 to 1803, 4th ed. (Iola, WI: Krause Publications, 1982).

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