1855-S Half Eagle - 1855-S Half Eagle PCGS AU55 - 1855-S $5 PCGS AU55. This Western branch mint, Choice Almost Uncirculated 1855-S half eagle is well struck and shows some original mint luster remaining in protected areas. Full details are found on the centers of the stars, Libertys hair, the eagles neck, the shield, and the area to the lower left of the shield. For the grade the surfaces are clean, with no individually distracting abrasion marks. The white smudge marks on the reverse are on the holder not the coin. Just a touch of wear keeps this pretty piece from an Uncirculated grade. The coin has completely original surfaces and looks good enough to have graded several points higher.

When Mint Engraver William Kneass was unable to resume his duties after a debilitating stroke, Christian Gobrecht was asked to do his work, which included making a new half eagle that would be uniform with the eagle. The Liberty Head half eagle with no motto was minted from 1839 to 1866.

Gobrechts design shows a left facing profile of Liberty wearing a LIBERTY inscribed coronet. Her hair is tied in the back and there are two loose curls that hang down her neck. Around the head are thirteen six-pointed stars, and the date is below the truncation. At the periphery of the coin are dentils. The coin also has a reeded edge. The reverse shows a heraldic eagle similar to the one on the Classic Head half eagle except that the eagle is smaller and its neck is not bent so aggressively. The inscription UNITED STATES OF AMERICA surrounds the eagle, except for its wing tips, in an arc. The denomination is below, separated with dots, and written as FIVE D.

The San Francisco Mint opened in 1854 because of the need to coin gold resulting from the California Gold Rush. In the West there was an abundance of gold bullion, nuggets and dust; however, there was also an acute shortage of circulating coinage. Congress authorized this mint to relieve the shortage and coin silver and gold and because transportation of bullion to Philadelphia was time consuming and hazardous. Because of its proximity to the Gold Rush area, San Francisco was chosen as the site of the new mint.  In 1874 it moved into a new building called the Old United States Mint or the Granite Lady. It is one of the few structures that survived the earthquake of 1906. It remained in service as a mint until 1938, when the present facility opened.

In 1826 Gobrecht did his first work for the Mint as an assistant to William Kneass. After Kneass suffered the stroke, Gobrecht did all the die and pattern work for the Mint. He became Chief Engraver in 1840 and served until his death in 1844. He was famous for his Liberty Seated motif, which was used for all denominations of silver coinage including the half-dime, dime, quarter dollar, half dollar and silver dollar. He also designed the Liberty Head gold eagle, a motif that was also used on the half-cent, the cent, the gold quarter eagle, and the gold half eagle. 

In its population report, PCGS indicates that they have certified 12 1855-S half eagles at the AU55 grade level.