Half Eagles
1797 SMALL $5 HALF EAGLE GOLD
Written/Compiled by Dennis
Hengeveld
The second to last date for the small eagle, five
dollar gold piece designed by Robert Scot is very rare in
any grade, but yet more available than the next and last
year. Its mintage has usually been regarded to be correct at
3,609 pieces, but some researches like Hilt have suggested
otherwise. As with the majority, if not all, of the early
American gold coins mintages are usually based on personal
and traditional suggestions, as many issues were struck in
complete different coins than the dates shown on them. As
such, we can only make reliable guesses to the number of
pieces struck of a certain issue.
There are four varieties listed for the 1797
small eagle five dollar gold piece as classified by
Bass-Dannreuther in their Early U.S. Gold Coin
Encyclopedia. All coin collectors will conclude from the
total mintage that all varieties are rare. This is
further confirmed by the suggested mintages and pieces
known to exist, as listed in that reference:
BD Variety
Physical
Description
Estimated Mintage
Rarity
BD-1
15 stars, wide date
500-1,000
R-7 (10-15 known)
BD-2
15 stars, narrow date
400-800
R-7 (8-12 known)
BD-3
16 stars, rev berries outside
1,000-1,500
R-6 (20-25 known)
BD-4
16 stars, rev berries inside
25-75
Unique
As can be derived from the above listing, even the most
available die pair is very rare. Three different obverse
dies were used for coinage, with BD-3 and BD-4 sharing
the same obverse die. It would seem likely that that die
was created after July 1, 1796, when Tennessee joined
the Union as the 16th state. However, modern scholars
have suggested that this die was created as early as
late 1795, with the last digit left blank. This was
common practice at the early Mint, with die creating a
long and hard process. If a die suddenly broke (which
happened with regularity, as confirmed by the small
mintages) it was not economical to stop the whole
production until new dies had arrived in the coining
room. In total, three different reverse dies were used,
with BD-1 and BD-2 sharing the same reverse die.
The final variety, BD-4 is unique in gold and resides
permanently in the Harry W. Bass foundation collection.
Another piece has been rumored to exist, but has not
seen in recent years. One example of this variety,
however, is known struck in copper, in low quality and
defaced. It is listed in the Judd pattern book as J-24,
which shows it at as having a reeded edge. It sold
recently for $17,250, graded by NGC as PF-50. Prior to
that offering it was last sold in June 1988 by Bowers &
Merena, where it brought $2,310 and was graded as net
Very Good (damaged). A few impressions of early American
gold coins are known in other metals, but that
particular piece has claims to being the most
interesting, despite its low state of preservation.
Prior to 1972, when the BD-4 variety in gold was
discovered in the Byron Reed collection, that die trail
was the only known example of the variety.
The estimated number of pieces known is very
different in many resources. Some say as few as 35
pieces are known in all grades, with many damaged.
Other sources quite 50 to 55 as the correct number,
but from the number of auction appearances it seems
likely that the number would be closer to the low
number then to the high number. Many pieces are also
damaged, usually avoided, but with such a rarity
even those pieces are highly in demand and bringing
high prices at public auction. In any grade, it is
seldom offered, and as with many similar issues from
this era most undamaged piece grade Very Fine or
Extremely Fine at most. About Uncirculated pieces
are extremely rare, and if offered greatly in demand
for specialized date sets. Two MS pieces are known
to exist; a single PCGS MS-61 and another graded NGC
MS-60. Those pieces have both sold at public auction
in recent years for large amounts, and it appear
that both pieces are off the market for a longer
period of time. Any coin, regardless of grade,
should be serious considered for this issue as
offerings are few and far between.
