1805 $5 Draped Bust Half Eagle PCGS MS63

Here is a stunning survivor of the 1805 $5 Draped Bust issue. Take a look at the images of this specimen, with its original greenish-gold coloration, stunning design, and sharp strike. This is a great rarity from the early days of our nation.

Out of the mintage of 33,183, only 291 have been graded by PCGS. And of those, there are 40 that carry the choice grade of MS63 with only 23 finer. Collectors Universe prices this issue at $40,000 in MS63.

Why the 1805 $5 Draped Bust Half Eagle is so rare

Due to an error in the silver to gold ratio of 15:1, gold coins were undervalued from 1795 to 1834 and consequently became de facto bullion, resulting in gold coins vanishing from America. A House congressional committee report from 1819 states, "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].”

The First Philadelphia Mint, where this stunning offering from AUCM was struck in 1805. Source: usmint.gov

Just two years later, in 1821, another House committee reported: "On inquiry, they find that gold coins, both foreign and of the United States, have in great measure disappeared." A Senate select committee of 1830 bluntly declared: "We have no gold coins in circulation."

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.