Smooth light gray surfaces with a few minor abrasions. Unfortunately, the obverse has an H scratched in the right obverse field with minor graffiti in the left obverse field. The silver plug is visible as a complete oval at center of the reverse. No evidence is visible on the obverse. Dimensions of the plug are 6mm. vertically by 7mm. horizontally.

The silver plugged 1795 dollars were created in an experiment during the minting process. When the planchets were prepared, normal procedure was to file the heavy blanks through a process of adjusting, lowering the weight to standard while leaving plainly visible file marks known today as adjustment marks. Underweight planchets were simply remelted with the metal reused. In 1795, the Mint experimented with silver plugs, apparently of the same standard composition. Underweight planchets had a small hole placed in the center with a piece of silver inserted to adjust these planchets back to standard weight. When the hole was struck by the dies, the plug would spread out over a portion of the coin. Apparently this was not an efficient process for no examples are known in later years.

The text Silver Dollars and Trade Dollars of the United States: A Complete Encyclopedia, 1993 gives detailed information on this issue.

Purchased from Bradley Karoleff, December 1993.