LIBERTY HEAD (NO MOTTO ON REVERSE) FIVE DOLLARS OR HALF EAGLE (1839-1866)
1799 Half Eagle
1799
Half Eagle
PCGS No:
8081, 98081
Mintage:
Circulation
strikes:
7,451
Proofs:
none
Designer:
Robert Scot
Diameter:
±25
millimeters
Metal content:
Gold - 91.7%
Silver and Copper - 8.3%
Weight:
±135
grains (8.748 grams)
Edge:
Reeded
Mintmark:
None (all dates
of this type were struck at the Philadelphia mint)
Introduction:
The date 1799 is much rarer than its mintage figure
suggests. Coins delivered during this year almost certainly
include many dated 1798, though some few half eagles
delivered in 1800 may have borne date 1799. Large stars
on the last three revs, made for this year reflect manufacture
of a new star punch which continued through the next
few years. The emergency delivery of [760], Dec. 28,
1799, probably includes backdated pieces from cracked
and rusted dies.
Auction Appearances
and Collateral Evidence:
The 1799 half eagle is a great, low-mintage date that,
if anything, has been underrated in the past. It is
not nearly as common as the 1795, Small Eagle or the
1798 Large 8, 13-Star Reverse, but enough high-grade
examples have survived that it is safe to call it scarce
rather than rare. Variants exist with large and small
stars, with the large-star variety being by far the
more common. More than two dozen examples have been
certified at the Mint State level, the finest being
a single NGC MS-66 example that is now a part of a superb
Texas collec¬tion of U.S. coins. In 2004, a PCGS
MS-63 example set an auction-record price for the date
of $36,800. The NGC MS-66 undoubtedly sold for much,
much more.
(1) Proof:
Flanagan 1944
(18) Unc: Superior 2/78; ANA 1976;
Beck 1975; Pine Tree 3/74; Alto 1970; Kreisberg 4/67;
Bell 1963; Fed. Brand 1963; Golden 1963; Melish 1956;
Davis/Graves 1954; Kern 1950; MC 1948; Atwater 1946;
WGC 1946; Hall 1945; Bell 1944; Dunham 1941
(12) AU: Kagin's 9/78; Beck 1975:
Stack's 9/72; Shapero 1971; Kreisberg 6/69, 9/67;
Pierce 1965; Ward 1964; Fed. Brand 1963; Melish 1956
(3)
(22) EF: RARCOA 8/78; Stack's 6/77:
Beck 1976; Paramount 1175; Stack's4/3( 9/74; Pine
Tree (GENA) 1974; Pine Tree 9/73; Stack's 9/72; ANA
1791; Miles 1968; Shuford 1968; Kreisberg 4/67; Bolt
1966; Kosoff 10/65; Stacks 10/65; Wolfson 1962; Golden
1962; Baldenhofer 1955; Menjou 1950; Roach 1944; Dunham
1941
(22) VF: Stack's 2/79; Beck 2/ 77;
B&R 11 76; Pine Tree (GENA) 1975; Superior 2/75
Pine Tree 9/73; RARCOA 5/73; Gilhousen 1973; Merkin
2/72, 3/69; St; 9 66; Holmes 1960: ANA 1956; Melish
1956 (2); Smith 1955; Farouk 195. Flanagan 1944; Roach
1944; Ten Eyck 1922; Jenks 1921
(3) Fine: ANA 1968; Stack's 10/66;
Lee 1947
(1) Good: Olsen 1944
Comments: The 1799 is moderately
scarce as a date and is quite rare in strictly uncirculated
condition Gems are particularly hard to locate. However,
the date is really not as rare as the low mintage
record would indicate. Since the Mint was rather cavalier
in its use of dies, it is highly 1 that some of the
coins in the mintage record for 1800 were actually
dated 1799. A reasonable estimate of the mintage,
based on the frequency of appearance of the date and
the numb known varieties, would be somewhere in the
range of 15.000. This date is just slightly more than
the 1798 Large 8, 13 Stars and considerably more rare
than most of the dates 1800-1807. Despite the one
auction record, no proofs were struck.
