1908 $5 Liberty Head Half Eagle PCGS MS65+ (CAC)

Here's a classic numismatic design with a decidedly neo-classical look! James B. Longacre crafted different versions of the Liberty head for four popular series of collectible gold coins: Double Eagle, Eagle, Half Eagle, and Quarter Eagle. This stunning Half Eagle features a sharp strike and truly beautiful coloration. PCGS has graded 32 as MS65+ with 68 finer. In CAC, there are 62 in MS65/65+ with 15 finer. The year 1908 was the last year of the popular $5 Liberty Head Half Eagle series.

One of James B. Longacre's original renderings of Liberty with a coronet in her hair.

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."