1798 Half Eagle - The final date of the small eagle variety of five dollar gold pieces, or half eagles, is dated 1798. It is among the rarest of the early American gold coins, with an estimated mintage of 300 to 600 pieces. Of these, just seven or eight pieces are known in all grades, many of which have been known to the numismatic community for decades. Except for a single piece which came to light in 1996 (and which might have been included in previous listings of known specimens) there have been no new discoveries of this issue in the last 35 years. Since the mid 1800s, unlike many now rare American coins, it has been considered to be an extremely rare issue. On average this issue is offered at public auction just once every decade.

All known specimens were struck from a single die pair. The reverse die was previously (probably around the same time) used to strike a single variety dated 1795, and it (1798 Half Eagle) appears to have been made in late 1796 or early 1797. Soon after it (1798 Half Eagle) was first used for striking 1798 small eagles it broke, and that appears to be the reason for the rarity of this issue. This die could very well have been the very last small eagle reverse die which was made and remained in production, as the Mint switched to the large eagle design in mid 1797. Because of economical reasons the old dies remained in use, and were mated with random obverse dies to created famous and enigmatic issues like the 1798 small eagle five dollar gold piece. Another factor which might have played a role in the creation of this issue was the yellow fever epidemic which broke out in Philadelphia and at the Mint in 1797. Coinage was temporarily halted; and when it was resumed it might have been the case that not enough working dies of the correct type were at hand.

Walter Breen, in his Encyclopedia, suggested that the mintage of this issue was 691 pieces, delivered on January 4, 1798. Another possibility is that it was included in the delivery of February 28, 1798. Both situations appear to be unlikely given the number of known specimens compared to the usual survival rate of early American gold coins. It could very well be part of either of the two deliveries listed above, but to say that is certain would be incorrect. No listings of what the deliveries exactly included have ever been found in the Mint archives, and as such all this are just assumptions. The early workers did not care much for quality, so if dies were useable they were used, despite cracks in the dies or other problems. When it broke, however, it was damaged beyond repair and a new die was set in the coining press. Because of these circumstances, modern numismatists now have a large number of different varieties and die combinations to study and to reconstruct the sequence of emissions of early American coinage. These studies were extensively studied by several researchers, with the most recent work on the subject published by Bass-Dannreuther, titled “Early U.S. Gold Coin Varieties”.

When Edgar H. Adams studied this issue extensively during the first years of the 20th century he could only locate two examples. More have been discovered in the years afterwards, and this issue now has seven or eight specimens known to exist in all grades. The last of these sold in 2000 at auction for the staggering amount of $264,500, it reportedly was discovered in 1996 and graded by PCGS as EF-40. The finest known is the Ex: Mehl; Green; Farouk; coin, which grades AU-55. Of the number of pieces known to exist there are three coins which are unavailable to collectors, with two of them in the Smithsonian institution and a third in the Harry W. Bass Research Foundation Collection. This leaves the total number of available coins at just a handful, and these are seldom available. As such, this is a first-class rarity of the early Philadelphia Mint, which is always destined for the finest sets.

We at U.S. Rare Coin Investments highly recommend these coins for investments portfolios. Whether a single coin or the long term acquisition of them with the goal of building a set in terms of historical importances as well as longterm profit potential, cannot be overstated in our opinion.