1813 $5 (1813 Half Eagle) NGC AU55. Early Half Eagle. This early date, 1813 Half Eagle has some mint luster remaining within the devices. The strike is above average with most of the stars centers strong and sharp as well as most of the hair detail. For the most part, the eagle is well struck as well. Sufficient separation in the lines of Libertys hair and the cap is present to confirm the grade. Overall the fields are clean and show no distractions worthy of individual mention.

John Reich designed the Capped Head half eagle of 1813 to 1834. Reich was responsible for the 1813 to 1815 issues. He left the Mint in March of 1817, after ten years of service without a raise. The half eagles of 1818 to 1829 were made from Scots copies of Reichs devices. Those of 1830 to 1834 were made from dies modified by Scots successor, William Kneass. The obverse shows Liberty in profile facing left wearing a LIBERTY inscribed cap that was intended to represent a Phrygian cap. She is surrounded by thirteen stars with the date below the truncation. The reverse shows the heraldic eagle with wings raised up. Between them, on a banner, is the motto E PLURIBUS UNUM. The required inscription UNITED STATES OF AMERICA surrounds the coin, interrupted by the wing tips, and the denomination written as 5 D. is below.

Reich corrected the error made by Robert Scot in the design of the earlier half eagle (as well as his other heraldic eagle motifs). Scot had placed the arrows in the eagles right or dexter claw and put the olive branch in the left or sinister claw. This reversal of the positions of these two items is an inaccurate modification of the Great Seal of the United States. Arrows in the right claw symbolize extreme militarism, which may have been a message to France and other European powers concerning the sovereignty of the United States. On the Capped Bust half eagle, the olive branch is in the right claw and the arrows are in the left.

Johann Reich, a skilled engraver, was born it Bavaria and came to the United States around 1800. In order to finance his passage, he sold himself into servitude. President Thomas Jefferson recommended that Reich be hired as an engraver at the Mint in 1801. While serving in Washingtons Cabinet, Jefferson had been in charge of the Mint as Secretary of State. While in France, Jefferson developed good judgment and a working knowledge of the minting process. Reich was hired for other duties, but he eventually became an engraver at the Mint. He had a superb eye for the complicated aesthetics of coin engraving. At this time his freedom was purchased by an unknown mint official. Although Chief Engraver Robert Scot designed most of the coins at the mint since 1794, it was said that Reich had much more talent and ability than Scot.

In 1807, Reich was promoted to the position of Assistant or Second Engraver by Robert Patterson, the new Mint Director. Jefferson had urged Patterson to make this promotion because Scots eyesight was failing him. The promotion was timely because Reich was considering returning to Europe out of boredom with the menial tasks he had been assigned. Immediately Patterson assigned Reich the task of redesigning the nations coinage. He began with the half eagle and the half dollar, the two most important coins for commerce.