1860-C $5 (1860-C Half Eagle) PCGS MS62. This rare Southern Branch Mint 1860-C Half Eagle gleams with buttery mint luster. A couple of small marks in the fields keep this coin from a higher mint state grade. The strike is flat and weak as usual for the date and mint; however, the stars and dentils on the obverse and the legends and dentils on the reverse are strong. Christian Gobrechts designed the Liberty Head (No Motto on Reverse) half eagle.

Its obverse 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, and the coin also has a reeded edge. The reverse of the coin shows a heraldic eagle similar to the one on the Classic Head eagle. 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 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 at the Charlotte Mint.

All Charlotte gold coins are scarce. Much of it is rare, and some is extremely rare because of a combination of low mintages and melting overseas. Many coins that were minted before the Civil War were used to purchase armaments abroad. Much of this coinage was melted in Europe to make coins of the realm. Only a tiny fraction of the C mint coinage survives today. In its population report PCGS shows 3 1860-C half eagle coins in MS62 with 1 better. NGC shows none in MS62 with only 1 better, and these numbers do not account for resubmissions and crossovers.