Hair Details and Value: Grading of Draped Bust Silver Dollars

The Draped Bust Silver Dollar is an old United States coin, minted in the years from 1795 to 1804. This coin design shows early American art, presenting a picture of Liberty on the front side, and showing an eagle on the back side.

Judging the condition of these old coins needs great care, looking closely at high relief points or easily letting the coin-identifier.com check it.

These are the design elements standing up highest from the coin’s surface, being the first parts to touch other things, like other coins or tables, when people use the money. 

Because of this high contact, these high points wear away very quickly.

On the Draped Bust Silver Dollar, the most important checking point for deciding the coin’s grade is the small lines in Liberty’s hair, these lines showing how much the coin was used. 

Looking at these hair lines helps grading companies, like PCGS and NGC, know exactly for how long the coin was carried by people, letting them make a correct decision about its number grade.

Describing the Hair Design and Checking Zones

You can check it via a coin identification or, if you want to grade the coin yourself, it is necessary to know the parts of Liberty’s hair. Liberty’s head looks to the right, her hair being separated into several thick strands laid in layers. 

These strands make the design look big and stand out.

The main parts of the hair to check are:

• The Hair Above the Ear: This part is the highest point of the whole coin design, forming two or three clear curls moving back toward the neck. 

On a new coin die, thin lines must be seen on the surface of these curls, these lines looking like small locks of hair or tiny waves. These tiny lines are very fragile, disappearing with very little use.

• The Back Strands: These are the curls gathered in a big knot, the knot hanging down toward the bottom of the neck. This part does not stand out as much as the hair above the ear, meaning the details here stay longer. 

But, seeing a clear space between the nearby strands in this zone is also an important rule.

On a coin that has never been used, all the thin lines on the surface of all the hair strands must be sharp, clear, and fully separated, showing the coin’s perfect start. If these lines are gone or worn away, it clearly shows the coin has lost its first perfect state.

Using the “Hair Details” Rule in Grading

The grading system uses the hair details to place coins into groups, going from Very Fine (VF) condition to About Uncirculated (AU) condition. 

Coins that have lost most of their surface look, but still show the big shapes, get a grade lower than VF. Coins that show no wear on the hair at all are called Uncirculated (MS-60 and higher).

Graders check the hair details using a very strong glass, focusing on how much of the original thin lines still remain. This checking is a clear technical process, relying only on whether the physical raised lines are there or not.

The Rule for Judging:

• VF: In this group, the coin was used for a long time by people. The thin lines of hair in the highest spot, the hair above the ear, are completely gone. The surface of the curls in this part is smooth, and only the big, main shapes of the strands are left.

• EF: The coin was used only for a short time. Small parts of the thin hair lines start to appear in the parts of the hair that were protected. The tops of the curls above the ear are smooth from wear, but the large shapes of the curls are very clear.

• AU: The coin was almost never used, but shows a few small signs of touching things. More than half of the thin hair lines must be easy to see. The wearing away is only on the very top points of the curls.

This rule makes it possible to tell the difference between VF-30 and EF-40, for example, based only on how much of these small hair details are saved, making the final grade very exact — but you still can check the details via a coin scanner without any effort. 

Seeing more full and clear thin lines on the hair means the coin gets a higher number grade.

Detailed Look at Hair Wear by Grade Level

To get the most correct grade, the condition is split into many smaller groups, each one having a strict rule for how much the hair details are worn away.

The Very Fine Group

• VF-20: The details of the hair are completely rubbed off. The thin lines showing the individual hairs are all gone, and only the big shapes of the curls are left, these shapes having soft, round edges. The whole hairstyle looks flat and without structure.

• VF-30: The shapes of the curls are clearer than on a VF-20 coin. Even though all the thin lines are still worn away, the edges between the big strands are sharper. 

You might see the weakest, hard-to-notice signs of thin lines only in the deepest parts of the hair, for example, under the cloth near the neck. The area above the ear stays totally smooth.

The Extra Fine Group

• EF-40: The small details begin to show clearly. This is a very important point, marking the start of better conditions. Clear, thin lines of hair are now visible on the back strands and in the knot near the neck. 

But, on the highest part—the curls above the ear—the thin lines are 50–75% worn away. The edges of the curls are still very sharp all over the coin, showing the coin was used for a very short time.

• EF-45: Clear details are seen in the protected parts. The thin lines on the curls above the ear are less than 50% worn away. On the back strands and in the knot, almost all thin lines are there and easy to see.

The wear only touches the very top edge of the curls, meaning the coin was taken out of use almost immediately.

The About Uncirculated Group

• AU-50: Very little wearing is present. More than 50% of the thin hair lines, including the top of the curls above the ear, must be clearly seen.

The wearing, meaning the smooth rubbing of the metal, is only on the absolute highest spots. In the deep spaces between the hair strands, some of the first coin shine should still be visible, this shine not being rubbed off by use.

• AU-55: The details are nearly perfect. The rubbing is on very small parts only, being less than 25% of the total hair area. 

The hairstyle looks almost complete and sharp, showing its new state. A lot of the original coin shine is still on the surface.

Coins with a grade of MS-60 and higher must have no signs of wear on the hair at all, keeping all the details exactly as they were when first made.

The Coin Making Quality and Hair Details

The clarity of the hair details on a coin is decided not only by wear from use but also by the quality of the coin making, meaning how strong the machine hits the metal.

The Idea of a Weak Strike

In old coins, including the Draped Bust dollars, the problem of a “Weak Strike” is often seen. This happens when the machine does not use enough power, or when the metal piece being stamped is too hard to fully push into the small cut marks on the die.

• Result: A coin that was never used might still have soft, unclear, or missing thin hair lines above the ear. In this situation, the coin will be graded as “Uncirculated with a Weak Strike.

The Idea of a Full Strike

• Result: The machine used the most power, and the metal perfectly filled all the die’s small cuts. Such a coin has completely sharp, clear, and separated hair lines across the whole hairstyle.

A Full Strike is not common for this coin type, and it makes the coin much more valuable, even if its number grade is the same as a Weak Strike coin. 

Checking the hair details therefore includes looking at both the wearing away and the first quality of the coin making.

Direct Effect of Hair Details on Market Price

The condition of the hair details is the key factor that directly and strongly changes the final price of the Draped Bust Silver Dollar when sold to coin collectors.

Reasons for the Price

• Rarity: Most of these coins are worn down. Coins with full hair details in EF-40 condition and better are very hard to find.

The better the hair details are kept, the fewer such coins exist, this lack creating high demand and a high price.

• Technical Proof: Having clear hair details is a technical proof that the coin was either made with a perfect, strong hit or was taken out of use very quickly. 

For people who collect coins, this gives a guarantee of very little wear.

The Math of Value: A change of just one grade step, this change coming from a difference in the saving of thin hair lines, can make the coin’s price go up many times. 

For example, the price difference between a coin graded VF-30 and one graded EF-40 can be 200%, 300%, or even more than the base price. 

In the highest collector grades, the price for a coin with a “Full Strike” will be much, much higher than the price for a coin with a “Weak Strike” with the same number grade.