1806 Half Eagle - 1806 $5 PCGS AU53. Pointed 6, 8X5 Stars, BD-5, R7, PCGS AU53. This rare variety 1806 Half Eagle has a Pointed 6 in the date and an 8X5 obverse stars arrangement. The coin is a mixture of light yellow gold with darker gold at the rims. The planchet is clean for the grade with no notable abrasion marks or other distractions. The strike is typical for the date and variety with central weakness as the result of a not properly hardened and failed die. The upper left stars show strong detail as does the back of Libertys hair, the date, and the inscription. The reverse shows strong wings on the eagle and strong peripheral details too. Both sides have strong, full dentils.

The BD-5 shows a Pointed 6 in the date. The flag of the 1 does not touch the hair curl. This is the only Pointed 6 with this feature. Because these were struck with the obverse in the hammer position and the reverse in the anvil position, there is weakness in the central area of the obverse die, which should not be confused with strike weakness. 

Robert Scot designed the Capped Liberty half eagle. The 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. It is uncertain if he was born in Edinburgh, Scotland or in England. 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 1781 he moved to Philadelphia. 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 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. Despite these limitations, he was responsible for designs of most of Americas first coins. These include the Flowing Hair and the Draped Bust motifs used on early silver coins and the Capped Bust gold coins. Scot also designed the 1794-1797 half-cent, the 1800-1808 draped bust half-cent, and the Thomas Jefferson Indian Peace Medal.

The 1806 BD-5 half eagle has an R7 rarity rating. PCGS indicates that 10 to 12 are known in all grades. In their population report, PCGS has certified 8 at the AU53 grade level.