1805 Half Eagle - The 1815 half eagle is a coin usually considered, in most grades, to be "available" within the context of the series. Yet, as with all early gold coins, this is an issue that remains difficult to find in problem-free condition in any grade, mostly due to heavy melting of gold in the decades after this issue’s minting. As such, it certainly is not a coin which should be considered to be easy to find, especially in problem-free condition. The overall low mintages of these enigmatic early gold coins and subsequent little care taken by its owners are more reasons which have frequently been quoted by specialized early gold collectors. Despite the relatively low interest this coin receives from non-specialized collectors, it remains to be an interesting issue to study. 1805 marked the first year that no Ten dollar gold pieces (eagles) were struck at the Philadelphia Mint, and thus would be the situation until the late 1830s. Subsequently, the half eagle was the largest denomination struck in 1805 and it would become the coin of choice in handling large and in particular overseas transactions, usually conducted in gold coin.

Five different die varieties have been identified by Bass-Dannreuther and others, using four different obverses paired with two reverses. By this year, the Mint in Philadelphia had become relatively successful in making the dies last longer. Earlier dies often broke after a couple of thousand, sometimes only hundreds of strikings, but by now the 10,000 mark was often broken by a single die, paired with several different opposite dies. However, this does not mean that every coin is perfect, as the dies were still used until they had become completely unusable because of die cracks and clash marks. As such, with a mintage of 33,183 pieces and two extremely rare varieties with less than 1,500 pieces struck, it can be estimated that three die combinations struck 10,000 coins on average, of which later strikings often showed heavy cracks and serious die clashes, sometimes repaired with lapping. This mintage, which perhaps included some 1804 dated coins as well, was grouped into two by Walter Breen in his Encyclopedia, differentiated by the number 1 punch in the date.

From study of the number 1 punch in the date of half eagles from this era, it seems that the Mint was somewhat struggling with it. A so-called “Blunt 1” punch was used from 1800 to 1804, when a new punch was introduced to replace it. It was used on two 1804 obverse dies and one 1805 die before it broke as well. The broken punch, however, was continued to be used in 1806 before it was once again replaced. It is identified by the missing left foot of the one, and is clearly visible with the naked eye although not many collectors pay attention to it. Breen gives exact mintages for these two major varieties, with 8,803 perfect 1 coins struck and delivered with six deliveries from March 12 to June 13 (BD-1 and BD-2). The imperfect 1 coins, numbering 25,100 in total would have been struck and delivered with six more deliveries of September 11 to December 19 (BD-3, BD-4 and BD-5). Given the rarity of the imperfect 1 coins, with BD-4 and BD-5 only four to seven coins known and BD-3 no more than 40-45, these numbers might very well be correct, or at least in the ballpark. BD-1 and BD-2, the perfect 1 varieties are relatively available, with an estimated 200 and 125 pieces known, respectively.

As previously mentioned, this variety is found with some patience in all grades up to upper about uncirculated and sometimes lower mint state grades. Yet, there are large differences within even a single grade. As such, a coin which would be considered to be in an AU grade could have much more eye-appeal than the majority of coins in that same grade. As such, every coin should be carefully selected for its surfaces, color and originality. Especially the latter has become increasingly hard to find on early gold coins. This is of course the case with all series, but is especially true with early gold coins. At the Mint, adjustment marks were often placed to make sure the coins were of the correct weight. Afterwards, unconscious collectors or owners of the coins cleaned them, or they were damaged by rough handling. Because of all this, Mint State coins (in any numerical grade) are very rare with less than heavily bagmarked surfaces with originality. MS-64 coins are very rare, and gems are extremely rare. NGC and PCGS both report two gems of this issue, but it appears that at least one of these has been resubmitted in hopes of an even higher grade, and that no more than three 1805 half eagles exist in gem.

Several interesting “patterns” of this issue is listed in both Judd (J-36 to J-38) and Pollock (P-6110, 15 and 20) texts. Judd lists it has a regular Mint issue, but Pollock correctly list these pieces as made outside of the US Mint. This pattern, supposedly unique in Silver and White Metal, with two pieces known in copper, was made in the early 1860 from scrap dies sold by the US Mint, reportedly by Joseph J. Mickley. Other pieces listed in Pollock only have the 1805 half eagle obverse paired with an illogical 1792 fantasy die, made by Montroville Dickeson, who was perhaps the one who also struck the 1805 half eagle “die trails”. All these pieces are very much in demand as fantasy pieces and are very seldom encountered in any condition. These coins were struck from the perfect 1 obverse in (obviously) the very last die state known.