1799 $5 (1799 Half Eagle) NGC AU55. Early Half Eagle. This 1799 Half Eagle is the BD-2 variety, which is an R5+ rarity rating. It is estimated that 35 to 45 pieces are known. The coin is well centered. It shows bright mint luster remaining within the devices and clean surfaces for the grade. While the coin has been graded AU55 because of slight wear, the surfaces are of sufficient quality to be seen on a coin that would grade several points higher. The strike is uneven, which is characteristic of coins of this era, but strong on the reverse stars and clouds above them. There are two varieties of this coin, with large and small stars. The present coin is the more rare small stars variety.

Robert Scot designed the Capped Bust, Heraldic Eagle half eagle coin. The obverse design shows 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 eight stars. Five stars follow LIBERTY down to the bust. 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 ways slaves were identified. The oversized cap worn by Liberty has been called a turban because one of Libertys hair strands wraps around it, and the design has been called the Turban Head because of it. The reverse shows a heraldic eagle. However, Scott mixed up the positions of the arrows and olive branch. The arrows held in the wrong claw signify defiant militarism. Either Scott made an error copying the image of the Great Seal, or he deliberately changed the symbolism. Perhaps the design was a warning to France, with whom the United States was engaged in an undeclared naval war, and others to be mindful of the new countrys sovereignty. In the field above the eagle are thirteen stars and above them, seven clouds. A banner from wing to wing has the motto E PLURIBUS UNUM. The early half eagle coins have no denomination because gold was valued by its weight and fineness as was the European coinage of the time. As seen on contemporary Large Cents, dentils are at the edge of both the obverse and reverse of these coins.

The Capped Bust, Heraldic Eagle half eagle series consists of only ten dates from 1795 to 1807. The life-span of the series encompassed the presidencies of George Washington, John Adams, and Thomas Jefferson. Although the heraldic eagle reverse was not made until 1798, it nevertheless exists with 1795, 1796/5, and 1797 obverses. The 1798 dies had a large 8 and thirteen reverse stars. The colors of the shield were shown by raised engravers lines. The red stripes are made of five raised lines. This code was created by engravers in the sixteenth century to show colors in coats of arms that could only be printed in black and white. The next die had a large date and shield with three raised lines each with fourteen stars above. Elias Boudinot, the third Mint Director, ordered these changed to thirteen stars. They are found either in a cross or arc pattern. There were also small date 1798 coins. The coins of 1799 had a large final 9 and either large or small stars. According to the official record, only 7,451 pieces were minted. The next year had a mintage of 37,628; however, many of these are believed to have been dated 1799.

Thomas Jefferson chose Robert Scot to be the first Chief Engraver of the United States Mint on November 23, 1793. Scott 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 and had poor eyesight. His work was somewhat less than that done in Europe at the time, and Scot was criticized for its poor quality. However, 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.

The 1799 half eagle had a mintage of 7,451, which includes both varieties. In its population report, NGC shows 1 1799 Small Reverse Stars in AU55 with 7 better.