1872-CC Half Eagle - 1872-CC $5 PCGS AU50. Traces of original mint luster remain in protected areas of this 1872-CC Half Eagle. The original surfaces are remarkably clean for the grade. No abrasion marks or other distractions are present in sufficient quantity or severity to warrant description. The strike is soft in the centers, as are most pieces of this date and mint. However, full details are present on the centers of the stars and the reverse legends. About one-third of the feathers on the eagles neck are visible as are most of the feathers on the wings.

Christian Gobrecht designed the Liberty Head or Coronet half eagle. The coin shows Liberty facing left in profile wearing a LIBERTY inscribed coronet with her hair tied in the back with beads. Two long curls hang down her neck, one in the back and the other on the side. She is surrounded with thirteen six-pointed stars. The date is below the truncation, which shows no drapery. The motif is taken from a Benjamin West painting of Venus. It was also used with modifications for the Large Cents of 1839. The reverse shows a heraldic eagle with outstretched wing looking to the left. On its chest is the Union shield. In its talons it holds the olive branch and arrows. Except for the tips of the eagles wings UNITED STATES OF AMERICA surrounds the reverse, separated from the denomination FIVE D. by dots. Dentils are near the edge on both sides of the coin, and the edge is reeded. Type 2 was created when the motto IN GOD WE TRUST was added to a banner designed by James B. Longacre above the eagle in 1866. The change was made in response to pressure organized by the Reverend M.R. Watkinson.

Both before and during the Civil War almost a dozen Protestant denominations pressured Congress to add references to God to the Constitution and other government documents. Reverend Mark Richards Watkinson was the first to write to Treasury Secretary Salmon Chase to request that Gods name be added to our coinage. His suggestion for a motto was God, Liberty, Law. Chase ordered Mint Director James Pollock to prepare a suitable motto. Pollocks suggestions included Our Trust Is In God, Our God And Our Country, and God Our Trust. Then Chase decided on In God We Trust to be added to most of the nations coinage. This motto was a subtle reminder that the North considered itself on the side of God with regard to the issue of slavery. A new law was required to allow the motto to be added since previous acts of Congress specified the mottos and devices that were permitted on coins. The new motto was placed on all coins that were deemed large enough to accommodate it.

Authorized in 1863, the Carson City Mint began coinage in 1870 and continued until 1893. It was then operated as a government assay office until 1933 when it was closed as a cost cutting measure. During its operation it made fifty-seven different types of gold coins. It also converted gold bullion and oar into gold bars, which were shipped to San Francisco for coinage there. Coins issued from the Carson City used the CC mint mark. Originally established to convert silver from the Comstock Lode to coinage, the Carson City Mint also processed gold in to gold coins.

The 1872-CC Half Eagle is a fundamentally rare coin because fewer than 100 are known to exist in all grades. According to its population report, PCGS has certified 10 in AU50.