The early Gold Eagles had two major varieties. The first is known as the small eagle design because of the scrawny eagle on the reverse. The second is the heraldic design whose reverse is derived from the Great Seal of the United States.
Since its issuance in 1795, the eagle was not a particularly popular coin. It was inconvenient in that it was too large for small transactions and too small for large sums. Since foreign coins were legal tender in the United States at this time, banks tended to use them because they were more familiar and more convenient than the eagle.

The coin’s designer, Robert Scot, probably used a Roman copy of a Greek god for the obverse. He added drapery and an oversized cap. The cap is not a Phrygian or liberty cap, which was a tight fitting felt cap worn by former slaves or gladiators after they were released. It seems to be more a high-fashion 1790’s style of ladies’ headwear and is similar to a cap worn by Martha Washington in some portraits. The draped bust is truncated, which is actually mistaken Greco-Roman classicism. The ancients would truncate a bust and then insert it on to a draped statue. The reverse is an adaptation of a sketch of a Roman cameo. The bird is difficult to compare to any bird known except perhaps a long-necked chicken with large wings. It holds a laurel wreath in its mouth and stands on what looks like a palm branch. On worn or weakly struck examples, one cannot tell if the eagle’s front or back is facing us. The 1795 obverse had 15 stars, one for each state. The next two years added a star for Tennessee as the sixteenth to join the Union. Interestingly enough, the sixteen stars are arranged differently on coins for these two years.

The heraldic or second design type reverse was used from 1797 to 1804. Taken from the Great Seal of the United States, the design is actually incorrect. Scott reversed the position of the warlike arrows and the olive branch. The resulting symbolism is either an extremely martial stance of saber-rattling or a stupid blunder. If a blunder, it was blindly followed for many denominations that Scot designed. These eagles all have thirteen stars on the obverse. Evidently it was realized that adding a new star for each state would eventually be impractical. Similarly, there are thirteen stars on the reverse above the eagle.

In 1804 President Thomas Jefferson ordered that production of this denomination be halted because, as with silver dollars of the time, there was extensive melting for bullion. The price of the precious metal content exceeded the value of the coins. The issue contains one great rarity, an 1804 proof with a mintage of four. The coin is actually a restrike, one of which was included in the famous “King of Siam” original proof set of 1834.