1804 Half Eagle - A very popular date, the 1804 half eagle is one of the toughest dates in the early half eagle gold series. The 1804 half eagle gold coin is a true rarity in any grade and almost impossible to find in high grade. Minted more than 200 years ago, it is already amazing that some pieces survived in any condition, yet in what we now consider to be high grade, i.e. uncirculated condition. This is one of the issues that has seen an increasing demand because of publications about different denominations of the same date, in this particular case the famous 1804 Silver Dollar, a major rarity and an extremely popular coin. Because of this, the 1804 date has been highly coveted and appreciated by numismatists of all periods.

The red book, and other books, quotes the usual mintage of the 1804 five dollar gold piece at 30,475 coins. Breen, in his Encyclopedia, mentioned that the mintage might have been lower in reality, but Bass-Dannreuther, in their book Early U.S. Gold Varieties, however, mention that the number in fact might have been higher. The discussion is based on various factors, but mostly because of a comment made by Breen that most 1803 half eagles were actually struck in 1804. This would mean that the reported mintages of 1804 no doubt included backdated coins, and that the true mintage might have been lower. However, it would certainly be possible that some of the 1804 dated half eagles in fact were struck in later years, creating a situation which is extremely common when it comes to early gold. Determining mintages, even somewhat reliable ones is a very hard task for early gold pieces, and often mintages are quoted on earlier research and in some way on tradition.

The mintage is known to have been struck from a total of seven different die combinations. These were struck by combining four obverses with 4 different reverse, of which one reverse was previously used to strike two 1803 varieties. This die continued to be paired to 4 different obverse dies, lasting longer than dies usually did at the time. These varieties, as per Bass-Dannreuther range from rarity from R-4 (100 to 150 known in all grades) to R-7+ (4-8 known in all grades). Miller, one of the earlier researchers of the half eagle denomination listed another variety, but to this date it has not been found and its existence has been doubted. This is often the case with earlier reference books, as their resources were more limited then in current times and offerings were much scarcer (in general).

The 1804 half eagle obverse can be placed in two different groups. The first, usually called “small 8” has been named “normal 8” by Bass-Dannreuther. The second is much more interesting, and also is a separate listing in the red book, being slightly scarcer. It consists of a normal 8 struck over a large 8. This variety (three different die varieties per Bass-Dannreuther) is one of the more interesting repunched dates in all of American numismatics, as the repunching is very obvious, even in lower graded coins.

It has been suggested that the large 8 punch might have been intended for the larger Ten dollar denomination, but this has not been confirmed by modern researchers. The other numerals, except the four are larger than usual as well, so that comment might be disputed. There is also a variety (BD-4) that has a recut 8. It has sometimes been listed as a normal 8 over large 8 variety, but this is not the case. That variety also made use of a new punch for the 1 in the date, after the old broken punch had been used since the beginning of the century. This is a truly great find.