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Liberty Head $5 Half Eagles, 1838-1908 |
Like the Liberty Head Quarter Eagle, Christian Gobrecht designed the Half Eagles. Prior to 1900, they circulated heavily in the West, where distrust of paper currency was widespread. In the North and East, where paper currency circulated freely, gold coins of all denominations suffered from disuse, most eventually finding their way back to the Mint. The are two major Varieties of the Liberty Half Eagle. These include: no Motto, 1838-1866 and with Motto, 1866-1908. The 1839-C and 1839-D issues are considered minor varieties and are technically a one-year Type coin, since it has the mintmark placement on the Obverse above the date, rather than on the reverse, typical of all subsequent issues.
Indian Head $5 Half Eagles, 1908-1929 |
Bela Lyon Pratt of Boston, Massachusetts designed the "Indian Head" Half Eagles. These coins, as well as the "Indian Head" $2.50 Quarter Eagles, are the only United States Federal coins minted using a technique of impressing the design of a coin by striking called incuse. Unlike most other coins, an incuse coin does not have raised edges. Perhaps the most distinguished feature of an incuse coin is the design devices and legend, although still in relief, lie below the plane of the surface of the coin.
