1842-C Half Eagle - 1842-C $5 Large Date, NGC AU50. This pleasant, Southern branch mint 1842-C Half Eagle Large Date  has some mint luster remaining in protected areas along with touches of rose-gold coloring. The coin shows slight wear on the high points, in keeping with the grade; the surfaces, however, are original and extremely clean with only a few scattered abrasion marks on each side none of which is individually significant. The strike is above average especially for a branch mint coin made prior to the Civil War. It has full details on the centers of most of the stars and the area to the lower left of the shield.

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 North Carolina until 1848, when it was discovered in California.

The gold that was produced at Charlotte had to be refined and standardized so it would have commercial value. Private mints like the Bechtlers and Templeton Reids opened to assay the new gold and convert it to coinage. In order to standardize this coinage and because transportation to Philadelphia was so poor as a result of bandits, unfriendly Indians, and poor roads, a branch mint in Charlotte was opened in 1836.

Two years later the first half eagle was struck. Quarter eagles were minted later in 1838 and gold dollars in 1849. However, no coins were made in 1845 because there was a fire, and the entire structure burned to the ground. Its last coinage was in 1861, twenty-four years after it opened. During the Civil War, the Charlotte Mint continued coining gold; however, in October of 1861 the building was converted to a Confederate army hospital and headquarters. During Reconstruction, the building was used for offices by federal troops. In 1867 the Mint became an assay office, which remained in operation until 1913. During World War I it was used by the Charlottes Womans Club and as a Red Cross station. In 1936 the site was relocated south of downtown and became the Mint Museum of Art, which was the first art museum in North Carolina.

In its population report, NGC has certified 11 1842-C Large Date half eagles in AU50 condition with 74 better.