the public disliked scot's original reverse design, deeming the depicted eagle scrawny and unworthy of a great nation such as the united states aspired to be. the new mint director, elias boudinot, asked scot to redesign the reverse. the so-called heraldic eagle design was struck on quarter eagles as early as 1796, but did not appear on the eagle until the following year, with the other gold denomination, the half eagle, following in 1798. the initial design (dubbed by some the "plain eagle") had been struck in relatively small numbers, 13,344 over the design's three-year life.