1797 Quarter Eagle - The 1797 Quarter Eagle had an original mintage of 427 pieces. (Some researchers believe that the mintage was 585.) In any case, less than 30 pieces are known to exist today.

There are thirteen obverse stars arranged seven on the right and six on the left. All issues have a very distinctive die break in the right field that extends from the Y down in front of Liberty’s face to the rim below star 13. This die break does not affect the quality of the strike. Most pieces are well-defined on both sides.

The reverse has sixteen stars scattered randomly above the eagle and sixteen stripes on the shield. Evidently the die was made in 1796 and reused. It was used again to make the 1798/7 dime.

With less than one millimeter difference in the diameters of the two coins, the reverse dies were interchangeable. Quarter eagle dies were used to strike dimes later as well.

Specifications:
Weight: 4.37 grams
Composition: .9167 gold, .0833 silver and copper
Diameter: approximately 20 millimeters
Edge: reeded