1901-S $5 Liberty Head Half Eagle PCGS MS63 (CAC)

Attractive piece in Classic PCGS Old Green Holder!

Here’s a more affordable—and attractive—example to include in your collection. PCGS has graded 2,365 as MS63 with 2,306 finer. Collectors Universe prices this issue at $1,150.00 in MS63. In CAC, there are 46 in MS63 with 381 finer. CAC gives this issue a price of $1,000.00 in MS63.

The Old San Francisco Mint, where this piece was struck in 1901. Photo: Wikimedia Commons.

Discussing the design found upon the Liberty Head half eagle, numismatic scholar and art critic Cornelius Vermeule writes, "The bust of Liberty with an inscribed coronet in her hair that graced the obverse was to remain on the gold coinage until 1908. The reverse differed little from the design in use since 1807 on the $5 gold piece save that the wings of the eagle spread from one edge of the coin to the other. On the $5 gold piece, or half eagle ... this sober yet young and sympathetic head of Liberty was to vary only in details [from the $10 Liberty head eagle] of tresses on the neck or strands of pearls in the bun on the back of the head."