1802/1 $5 Draped Bust Half Eagle, BD-7 PCGS AU58

This enchanting piece, with its iconic design, features beautiful rich golden orange coloration. The strong, very noticeable overdate is due to the use of leftover obverse dies from the previous year that have a '2' punched over the last digit of the date '1801.'

From its mintage of 53,176, there have been 338 graded by PCGS, pointing to its great rarity. Of those, there are 59 graded AU58, with 119 finer. Collectors Universe prices this issue at $20,000.00 in AU58. This is a very desirable example for the specialist in early U.S. gold coinage.

Overdate detail of the 1802/1 $5 Draped Bust, courtesy of PCGS Coinfacts.

Why the 1802/1 $5 Draped Bust is so rare

Gold coins were undervalued from 1794 to 1834 and thus became de facto bullion, resulting in gold vanishing from our shores. A House committee report from 1819 tells us, "Gold is estimated below its fair relative value, in comparison with silver and ... can scarcely be considered as having formed a material part of our money circulation for the last twenty-six years [since 1793].”

Mint Director Samuel Moore stated in 1832: "Gold at present constitutes no part of our currency; and not having, within any recent period, performed in the United States the office of coin, it has not been the standard of value assumed in existing contracts." Gold was brought to the Philadelphia Mint in the form of bullion and foreign coins. After it was minted into U.S. coins, they were mostly exported to Europe. The rare survivors, such as this offering from AUCM, were probably stored in the First Bank of the United States.