1878-S Half Ealge PCGS MS63 CAC - 1878-S $5, PCGS MS63 CAC. Subdued mint luster in protected areas of both sides characterizes this Mint State, eye-appealing, Western branch mint 1878-S Half Eagle. The coin is well struck with full details on the centers of the stars, Libertys hair, and the area to the lower left of the shield. The yellow-gold coin is somewhat darker on the obverse, which attests to its originality. The surfaces are clean for the grade with no individual abrasion marks worthy of description. The CAC sticker tells us that the coin is a premium quality piece that full merits the grade assigned.

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.

In March, 1865, a coinage act was passed that required that the motto be added to all coins large enough to accommodate it. The Mint interpreted this to mean for gold coinage the half eagle, the eagle, and the double eagle. The Liberty Head (Motto on Reverse) half eagle was created as a result of this mandate. (All silver coins larger than a dime also had the motto added.)

According to the records of the United States Treasury Department, the first request for the recognition of God on coinage was made in a letter from the Reverend Mark Richards Watkinson of Ridlelyville, Pennsylvania on November 13, 1861 to Salmon P. Chase, Treasury Secretary. You are about to submit your annual report to Congress respecting the affairs of the national finances, Watkinson said in the letter. One fact touching our currency has hitherto been seriously overlooked. I mean the recognition of the Almighty God in some form in our coins. This letter set off a series of events that caused an 1864 law to be passed allowing the In God We Trust motto to be placed on coins and the 1865 law that mandated it.

In its population report, PCGS has certified 8 1878-S half eagles in MS63 condition, which as a group are the third finest known at PCGS. At NGC there are 5 in MS63, which are the second finest known. As of March 2013, CAC has confirmed the present piece as the only one at MS63 and the finest known.