1795 Half Eagle - 1795 $5 Small Eagle, PCGS AU53. BD-10, R5. This rare, lustrous, eye-appealing, About Uncirculated 1795 Half Eagle coin has original, extremely clean surfaces. There are no notable abrasion marks or other distractions. Adjustment marks, which are often present on coins of this type, are absent. The piece has an above average strike with full details on the upper left stars and most of Libertys hair. The dentils on both sides are full and sharp. There is just a trace of wear on the highest points, in keeping with the grade.

The coin is identified as BD-10 because on the obverse the 1 is free of the hair. Star 1 is behind the hair curl with a tip overlapping it. One point of Star 10 almost touches Libertys cap. On the reverse there are 4 berries with 2 each inside and out. The inside right one is the lowest seen.

The coin was designed by Chief Engraver Robert Scot. The obverse design shows a profile of Liberty facing right. Below her is the date which is off center to the left. Between the date and the word LIBERTY on the left side of the coin are ten stars. Another five stars follow LIBERTY down to the bust. (There were other numbers and arrangements of the stars including eight and five, and twelve and four among the early eagles.) Liberty wears a large, soft cap. Her hair flows down and also shows on her forehead. The design was probably taken from a Roman engraving of a Greek goddess. Libertys cap was certainly not a Phrygian or liberty cap. The liberty cap, emblematic of freedom, was worn by freed slaves and freed gladiators in Roman times. It was a close fitting cap used to cover a shorn head, which was one of the way slaves were identified. Because of the way Libertys hair strands wrap around it, the oversized cap has been called a turban, and the design has been called the Turban Head because of it.

Scots Small Eagle reverse shows a skinny, unrealistic eagle standing on a palm branch. Its outstretched wings interrupt the legend, UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. Its head faces right. In its beak it holds a small laurel wreath. This motif, designed in 1795, was used on contemporary gold eagles as well. The palm branch is said to be an oblique reference to Mint Director DeSaussure, who came from Charleston, South Carolina.
Thomas Jefferson chose Robert Scot to be the first Chief Engraver of the United States Mint on November 23, 1793. Scot was born in 1744 in Edinburgh, Scotland or England. (Documentary evidence is lacking as to where he was born.) He was trained as a watchmaker in England and learned engraving afterwards. He moved to the United States in 1777, where he worked as an engraver of plates, bills of exchange, and office scales. During the Revolution, he was an engraver of paper money. In 1780 he was made the State Engraver of Virginia. He moved to Philadelphia the next year. He was appointed Chief Engraver of the United States Mint on November 23, 1793 by David Rittenhouse, Mint Director. His salary in 1795 was $1,200 per year. The Mint Director received only $800 dollars per year more. Scots ability to make dies was limited, and he was advanced in years with failing eyesight. His work was somewhat less than that done in Europe at the time, and Scot was criticized for its poor quality. He was responsible for designs of most of Americas first coins. These include the Flowing Hair and the Draped Bust motifs used on the early silver coins, and the gold quarter eagle, half eagle and eagle. Scot also designed the 1794-1797 half-cent, the 1800-1808 draped bust half-cent, and the Thomas Jefferson Indian Peace Medal. Scot died on November 1, 1823 and was succeeded by William Kneass as Chief Engraver.

Record keeping in the Mints early years was fairly inaccurate. At the end of the eighteenth century Philadelphia had recovered from the British occupation and Revolutionary War. It was the second largest city in the English-speaking world, but it could do nothing to protect its citizens from the mosquito-borne epidemic of yellow fever. Its wealthy citizens went to the countryside to escape, and the poor grimly waited their fate. Of course these annual epidemics caused havoc with all manufacturing that required continuity, such as a coinage sequence. In addition to yellow fever, chaos at the Mint was also caused by chronic bullion shortages, coin dies that would wear out and had to be re-engraved because they were not taken out of production until they failed completely, and a Chief Engraver, Robert Scot, who was in his seventies and had failing eyesight.

Henry William DeSaussure, the new Mint Director, appointed by George Washington in 1795, gave as his first two goals to improve coinage designs and get gold into circulation. David Rittenhouse, the first Mint Director and DeSaussures predecessor, had ordered Scot to make dies for the half eagle. After making it known that the Mint was ready to coin gold deposits, the first delivery was made on July 31st, and a batch of 744 half eagles was made. The first group of half eagles was the Wide Date variety, such as the present coin. It is believed that 2,749 Wide Dates were made first and 5,958 Close Dates were made later in September. The coinage of half eagles was apparently interrupted because the Director wanted to begin issuing the ten dollar eagle coins.

The grading services do not list the varieties of the Draped Bust half eagle; however, the 1795 BD-10 half eagle is a rare coin. It has a rarity rating of R5, which means that only 40 to 50 are known in all grades.