Half Eagles
1806 $5 NGC MS60 CAC
Written/Compiled by Dennis
Hengeveld
The first type of the half eagle, the so-called
Turban head came with two different reverses. The second,
the large eagle reverse (designed partly after the seal of
the United States) saw the largest mintage in 1806, with the
regular number being 64,093 pieces, nearly double as the
1805 half eagle and before the 1802 half eagle, which had a
mintage of 53,176 pieces. This mintage, however, does not
mean that this is a common coin, or easy to find. In fact,
the 1806 half eagle is hard to find in any undamaged
condition, as are all early gold coins. With only a single
variety being available to collectors on a somewhat regular
basis (which remains rare), it usually is BD-6, the
so-called Knobbed 6 variety with the obverse stars arranged
7X6. Bass-Dannreuther, in their reference on Early U.S. Gold
Coin Varieties, estimate a total mintage of 35,000 to 50,000
coins, and amazing number for a single die pair. Their
estimated number of pieces known ranges from 600 to 900, but
from auction appearances it appears to us that true original
pieces are very rare.
The varieties that have been labeled BD-1
through BD-5 are all of the Pointed 6 obverse punch,
used on five different obverses and five different
reverses. This means that no dies except for the reverse
die of BD-5, which was previously used in 1805, were
remarried after their first use. Both the Pointed and
Knobbed 6 obverses are considered to be separate major
varieties, and are listed as such in many references
including the Red book. Besides the obvious difference
in the number 6 punch of the date, the obverse stars are
also arranged differently on the pointed 6 variety,
eight left and five right of Liberty. This star
placement had been used since 1798 or 1799 (but first
found on coins dated 1798), and it is unknown why it was
changed suddenly in mid to late 1806. The most logical
reason would be a decision by the engraver that the new
star placement was more aesthetic, We will probably
never know for sure why it was changed, but the 7X6
placement remained in the last year of the series, 1807,
and remained the same with the next half eagle type
until a new type was introduced in 1813.
As previously mentioned, Bass-Dannreuther estimated a
total mintage of 35,000 to 50,000 pieces for BD-6, the
single die pair of the knobbed 6 variety. However,
regular sources, including Breen, the Red-Book and
others have quoted the mintage at exactly 54,417 pieces.
These compromise of the deliveries later in 1806, which
appear to have been substantially larger than those of
early 1806. As with all early gold issues, it is very
well possible that some 1806 half eagles were actually
struck in 1807. Breen mentioned that a hoard of
uncirculated examples might have survived, as the
knobbed 6 variety is more frequently encountered than
the pointed 6 variety. Yet, by studying the auction
appearances and overall frequency of sales of these two
varieties modern researchers have mentioned that the
supposed mintage might be incorrect. This would mean the
pointed 6 is not as rare as it usually is considered,
although it would remain to be a rare coin in the
absolute term.
The pointed 6 variety, despite being struck from
5 different die pairs, is much scarcer than the single
knobbed 6 die pair. The varieties range in rarity from R-4
(100-150 known, BD-1) to R-7 (6-12 known, BD-3 and BD-5),
although the differences are minor and not much noted except
by devoted specialists. Despite the two different varieties,
it usually is collected as a single year. As such, most
offerings will be examples in various die states of BD-6,
but offerings remain scarce. In fact, as with all early gold
coins, this issue is very hard to find with any originality
still remaining. Many pieces are weakly struck in the
centers, often diagnostics of a certain variety but usually
avoided by advanced type or date collectors. With the
limited number of offerings, however, it might be the only
piece in a certain grade that is available on the market for
a long period of time. For the date, only two pieces have
archived a gem grade at the major grading companies. Both of
these, surprisingly, being examples of the scarce knobbed 6
variety.
