Liberty Head, Variety 1, No Motto Above Eagle
(1839-1866)

From 1795 to 1838, the half eagle had undergone a total of six design changes-roughly one change every seven years. Stability finally came to this denomination in 1839, when a new version of Liberty and

a cleaned-up version of the eagle were unveiled. The obverse design lasted for 70 years; the reverse design remained essentially the same except for the addition of the motto IN GOD WE TRUST after the Civil War.

This type is characterized by roller-coaster mintages, varying qualities of strike and lus¬ter, interesting varieties, five different mints, and even a date that remains completely unknown in any collection. Mintages range from the 268 examples of 1854 (San Francisco Mint) to the nearly 700,000 Philadelphia coins of 1861. Quality differs from the well-pro¬duced coins of the Philadelphia Mint to the poorly made products of Dahlonega. In many cases, the dies used to produce coins at the Dahlonega Mint appear to be rejects from Philadelphia {which produced all of the dies for the branch mints). High-grade coins from either of the Southern mints (at Charlotte and Dahlonega) are among the most elusive and desirable of all U.S. coins.

The five different mints that made this type include Philadelphia, Dahlonega, Charlotte, New Orleans, and San Francisco. Proofs were made of almost every year. All are very rare, but Proof half eagles prior to 1859 are particularly so.

One of the more interesting varieties of this type is the 1847 with a misplaced date—the top of a 7 can be seen near the denticles, just below the 4 and the 7 of the date. 1842 and 1846 half eagles come with either Large or Small Dates. 1843-O half eagles are found with either Large or Small Letters on the reverse. The unknown date is the 1841-O, which has a reported mintage, though not a single example has ever appeared on the market.

Designed by Christian Gobrecht, who completely revised the head of Liberty, making it smaller, putting her hair up in a bun, and braiding the hair around her forehead and temple. The reverse is very similar to the preceding, but the eagle appears healthier. Edge: reeded. Standards: weight, 8.359 grams; composition, 90% gold / 10% silver and copper; diameter, 22.5 mm (reduced to 21.6 mm in 1840).