1872 Half Eagle - 1872 $5 NGC PF55. Occasionally a proof coin enters circulation and is subjected to all the hazards of a circulation strike. The original proof characteristics remain, but wear and abrasion marks are often found. This extremely rare, circulated 1872 Proof Half Eagle comes in an old NGC holder. It has remaining mint luster within its devices and shows light wear on the highest points, in keeping with the grade. The surfaces are original and clean, for the grade with a mixture of light hairlines, contact marks, and abrasions, none of which is significant enough to describe individually. The strike is full, as expected for a proof coin with all the design details apparent on both sides of the piece.

Because Engraver William Kneass, suffering from a stroke, was unable to work, Mint Director Robert Patterson asked Assistant Engraver Christian Gobrecht to design a new half eagle that was uniform with the eagle of 1838. He used the coronet motif obverse and the heraldic eagle reverse.

Christian Gobrechts Coronet Heads, No Motto were minted from 1839 to 1866. There were two types of the design, the first with the mint mark on the obverse above the date and the second with the mint mark above the denomination on the reverse. Gobrecht modified the previous designs denomination, 5D. He replaced the numeral with the word FIVE. The design shows Liberty facing left, surrounded by thirteen stars, her hair tied with beads in a bun, wearing a coronet on which is inscribed LIBERTY. She also has two long loose curls, one on the back of her neck and one from behind her ear. The reverse is the heraldic eagle design, which shows the eagle facing left with wings outstretched, holding olive branch and arrows in the correct claws with a union shield attached to its chest. The legend UNITED STATES OF AMERICA surrounds the reverse with the denomination at the bottom. Dots precede and follow the denomination separating it from the legend.

The coinage act of 1865 specified that motto IN GOD WE TRUST should be added to all coins large enough to accommodate it. The Mint interpreted this law to mean that the motto had to be added to silver coins larger than the dime and gold half eagles, eagles and double eagles. James Longacre, who was now the Engraver, added the motto scroll to the reverse under STATES OF, creating Type 2 of this design.

All Coronet Head half eagle proofs are rare. It is estimated that the Type 1 design had a mintage of approximately 450 while Type 2 had 2,938 struck. In their population reports, both major grading services combined have 121 Type 1 proofs and 1703 Type 2s certified in all grades.

With its original mintage of 30, the 1872 proof half eagle is extremely rare in all grades. Only approximately 16 are known to exist today. In its population report, NGC shows 1, the present coin in PF55 condition with 0 better. NGC has also graded 6 uncirculated proofs: 5 in PFCA and 1 in PFUC.