Half Eagles
1805 $5 HALF EAGLE GOLD
Written/Compiled by Dennis
Hengeveld
The 1805 half eagle is a coin usually considered,
in most
grades, to be "available" within the context of the series.
Yet, as
with all early gold coins, this is an issue that remains
difficult
to find in problem-free condition in any grade, mostly due
to heavy
melting of gold in the decades after this issue’s minting.
As such,
it certainly is not a coin which should be considered to be
easy to
find, especially in problem-free condition. The overall low
mintages
of these enigmatic early gold coins and subsequent little
care taken
by its owners are more reasons which have frequently been
quoted by
specialized early gold collectors. Despite the relatively
low
interest this coin receives from non-specialized collectors,
it
remains to be an interesting issue to study. 1805 marked the
first
year that no Ten dollar gold pieces (eagles) were struck at
the
Philadelphia Mint, and thus would be the situation until the
late
1830s. Subsequently, the half eagle was the largest
denomination
struck in 1805 and it would become the coin of choice in
handling
large and in particular overseas transactions, usually
conducted in
gold coin.
Five different die varieties have been
identified by
Bass-Dannreuther and others, using four different
obverses paired
with two reverses. By this year, the Mint in
Philadelphia had become
relatively successful in making the dies last longer.
Earlier dies
often broke after a couple of thousand, sometimes only
hundreds of
strikings, but by now the 10,000 mark was often broken
by a single
die, paired with several different opposite dies.
However, this does
not mean that every coin is perfect, as the dies were
still used
until they had become completely unusable because of die
cracks and
clash marks. As such, with a mintage of 33,183 pieces
and two
extremely rare varieties with less than 1,500 pieces
struck, it can
be estimated that three die combinations struck 10,000
coins on
average, of which later strikings often showed heavy
cracks and
serious die clashes, sometimes repaired with lapping.
This mintage,
which perhaps included some 1804 dated coins as well,
was grouped
into two by Walter Breen in his Encyclopedia,
differentiated by the
number 1 punch in the date.
From study of the number 1 punch in the date of half
eagles from this era, it seems that the Mint was
somewhat struggling
with it. A so-called "Blunt 1" punch was used from
1800 to 1804,
when a new punch was introduced to replace it. It was
used on two
1804 obverse dies and one 1805 die before it broke as
well. The
broken punch, however, was continued to be used in 1806
before it
was once again replaced. It is identified by the missing
left foot
of the one, and is clearly visible with the naked eye
although not
many collectors pay attention to it. Breen gives exact
mintages for
these two major varieties, with 8,803 perfect 1 coins
struck and
delivered with six deliveries from March 12 to June 13
(BD-1 and
BD-2). The imperfect 1 coins, numbering 25,100 in total
would have
been struck and delivered with six more deliveries of
September 11
to December 19 (BD-3, BD-4 and BD-5). Given the rarity
of the
imperfect 1 coins, with BD-4 and BD-5 only four to seven
coins known
and BD-3 no more than 40-45, these numbers might very
well be
correct, or at least in the ballpark. BD-1 and BD-2, the
perfect 1
varieties are relatively available, with an estimated
200 and 125
pieces known, respectively.
As previously mentioned, this variety is found
with some
patience in all grades up to upper about uncirculated and
sometimes
lower mint state grades. Yet, there are large differences
within
even a single grade. As such, a coin which would be
considered to be
in an AU grade could have much more eye-appeal than the
majority of
coins in that same grade. As such, every coin should be
carefully
selected for its surfaces, color and originality. Especially
the
latter has become increasingly hard to find on early gold
coins.
This is of course the case with all series, but is
especially true
with early gold coins. At the Mint, adjustment marks were
often
placed to make sure the coins were of the correct weight.
Afterwards, unconscious collectors or owners of the coins
cleaned
them, or they were damaged by rough handling. Because of all
this,
Mint State coins (in any numerical grade) are very rare with
less
than heavily bagmarked surfaces with originality. MS-64
coins are
very rare, and gems are extremely rare. NGC and PCGS both
report two
gems of this issue, but it appears that at least one of
these has
been resubmitted in hopes of an even higher grade, and that
no more
than three 1805 half eagles exist in gem.
Several interesting "patterns" of this issue
is listed in
both Judd (J-36 to J-38) and Pollock (P-6110, 15 and 20)
texts. Judd
lists it has a regular Mint issue, but Pollock correctly
list these
pieces as made outside of the US Mint. This pattern,
supposedly
unique in Silver and White Metal, with two pieces known in
copper,
was made in the early 1860 from scrap dies sold by the US
Mint,
reportedly by Joseph J. Mickley. Other pieces listed in
Pollock only
have the 1805 half eagle obverse paired with an illogical
1792
fantasy die, made by Montroville Dickeson, who was perhaps
the one
who also struck the 1805 half eagle “die trailsâ€. All
these pieces
are very much in demand as fantasy pieces and are very
seldom
encountered in any condition. These coins were struck from
the
perfect 1 obverse in (obviously) the very last die state
known.
