1803/2 Half Eagle - 1803/2 $5 NGC AU55. BD-1, R4. This eye-appealing, well struck 1803/2 Half Eagle has remaining mint luster in protected areas. Strong details are present on the obverse stars, Libertys hair, the upper part of the shield, the eagles neck, and the upper wings. Aside from the upper obverse, the dentils are full and sharp on both sides. Just a touch of wear is present on the highest points, and the surfaces are and clean for the grade with no notable abrasion marks or other distractions. The greenish-gold and yellow gold coloration attest to the coins originality.

The BD-1 variety is identified by the 3 of the date being free of the drapery. The 2 is seen behind the 3 at two points but not at the front of its base. The right foot of the T in LIBERTY is missing. On the reverse, Star 12 is near and points to the eagles upper beak. Both Ts in STATES have broken right serifs.

The coin was designed by Robert Scot. Its obverse 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 8 stars. Another 5 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. 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.

The reverse shows a heraldic eagle. However, Scot mixed up the positions of the arrows and olive branch. The arrows held in the wrong claw signify defiant militarism. Either Scot made an error copying the image of the Great Seal, or he deliberately changed the symbolism in keeping with very warlike stance. Considering that the United States at this time was engaged in a naval war with France (the undeclared Franco-American War of 1798 to 1800, which took place on the East coast of North America and the Caribbean and resulted in the end of French privateer attacks on U.S. shipping), the latter is probably more likely. The French would be especially sensitive to a message within the heraldry, and the young United States was brash in that they had just defeated the super power, England in gaining independence. In the field above the eagle are thirteen stars and above them, an arc of clouds. A banner from wing to wing has the motto E PLURIBUS UNUM.

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. Scots ability to make dies was limited, and in his advanced years he had 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.

The BD-1 variety has an R4 rarity rating. In its population report, NGC shows 35 in AU55 condition for all 1803 half eagles; they are not listed by die variety by either grading service.