1840-C Gold Half Eagle $5 PCGS MS60

There's a good reason why we chose this really nice 1840-C as our 1st coin of the week for the new year. This is a Very scarce Southern gold coin! All Charlotte gold is rare and eagerly sought by collectors and investors, this specimen is among the best of them. In its population report PCGS shows 1 in MS60 ( This coin! ) with only 5 better.

If you do not have an example of Southern Gold in your portfolio or collection, this is an excellent example to own and at a very active price.

Christian Gobrecht designed the half eagle, which was produced from 1839 to 1908, with the motto added in 1866. The coin uses the Liberty Head Coronet motif that shows Liberty in profile facing left. Her hair is tied with beads in the back with two curls coming down her neck. She wears a LIBERTY inscribed coronet and is surrounded by thirteen six-pointed stars above and the date below. The motif is taken from a Benjamin West painting of Venus. It was also used with modifications for the Large Cents of 1839. Around the periphery on both sides are dentils.

The reverse shows a heraldic eagle with outstretched wings. In its talons it holds the olive branch and arrows, symbols of peace and preparedness. The required inscription is in an arc above, interrupted by the tips of the wings and the denomination is below, written as FIVE D., separated by dots.

In the 1790s gold was accidentally discovered in North Carolina. The first United States Gold Rush took place in the early 1800s in North Carolina and Georgia. In the area around Charlotte, North Carolina almost 100 gold mines were in operation. Second only to farming, prospecting for gold became the main source of employment in North Carolina. The most gold produced in the United States came from the South until 1848, when it was discovered in California.