1802/1 Half Eagle - 1802/1 Draped Bust $5 NGC AU53. Early Half Eagle. This early date, gold 1802/1 Half Eagle has an above average strike. This coin is a true overdate with the 2 clearly over the 1. Clash marks add interest to the obverse of the coin. 

Robert Scot designed the half eagle. The obverse 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. Another 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 way slaves were identified. The oversized cap worn by Liberty has been called a turban, and the design has been called the Turban Head because of it. 

The reverse uses the heraldic eagle motif taken from the Great Seal of the United States. An eagle with upright wings is surrounded by the inscription UNITED STATE OF AMERICA, interrupted by the wing tips. Across the eagles neck is a banner that holds the motto E PLURIBUS UNUM. Above its head are stars, and above the stars are clouds. In its talons the eagle holds the olive branch and arrows, symbols of peace and preparedness. However, the design is actually incorrect. Scot reversed the position of the warlike arrows and the olive branch. The resulting symbolism is either an extremely martial stance of saber-rattling as a result of an undeclared naval war with France known as the Franco-American War or a stupid blunder. If a blunder, it was blindly followed for many denominations that Scot designed.