1908 Half Eagle Liberty - 1908 $5 Liberty NGC MS65 CAC. This last year of type, gem, Philadelphia 1908 Half Eagle is lustrous and bright with extremely clean fields. This 1908 Half Eagle Liberty is original and virtually mark-free on both sides. The strike is extremely sharp with full details seen on the highest points of Libertys hair, the centers of the stars, and the area to the lower left of the shield. When a coin is so appealing, it is difficult to determine why it did not grade considerably higher.

Christian Gobrecht designed the half eagle. It shows a left facing, young profile of Liberty wearing a LIBERTY inscribed coronet. The portrait of Liberty was based on a Roman neoclassic painting of the Napoleonic era called Pythagoras by Pierre Guerin. It was painted about 1800. The art critic, Vermeule calls her effigy on the coin a sober yet sympathetic portrayal. 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 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 new variety of the half eagle was supposed to be minted in 1866 adding the motto IN GOD WE TRUST. However, 9,000 1866-S Liberty Head (No Motto on Reverse) half eagle coins were struck. Later in the year 34,920 1866-S Liberty Head (Motto on Reverse) half eagle coins were minted in San Francisco. Evidently the new dies were shipped to the mint in California, but they did not arrive before the old dies were used to make the No Motto coins. The motto was added because of the publics feeling that Gods name should be shown on our coinage. It was first proposed by the Reverend Mark Richards Watkinson of Ridleyville, Pennsylvania. The phrase, In God we trust was a somewhat subtle reminder that the Union felt it was on the right side with regard to the issue of slavery.