The half
eagle was the first gold coin actually struck for the
United States. The five-dollar piece was authorized to be
coined by the Act of April 2, 1792, and the first type weighed
135 grains, .9167 fineness. The Act of June 28, 1834, changed
the weight to 129 grains, .8992 fineness. Fineness became
.900 by the Act of January 18, 1837.
There are many varieties among the early dates, caused by
changes in the number of stars and style of eagle, by overdates,
and by differences in the size of figures in the dates.
Those dated prior to 1807 do not bear any mark of value.
The 1822
half eagle is considered one of the most valuable regular-issue
coins of the entire United States series. Proofs of some
dates prior to 1855 are known to exist, and all are rare.
Commemorative and bullion $5 coins have been made at West
Point since 1986 and 1994, respectively; thus this is the
only U.S. denomination made at each of the eight mints.
The Small Eagle design Half
Eagle by Scot, was one of the first acts that the then
new mint director Henry William DeSaussure had proclaimed
(one of 2, first to place gold
coins in circulation, and second to improve an coin
designs in general). The series ran for only a short terms
1795 thru 1798 with 1798 being a major variety commanding
multiple hundreds of thousands of dollars in better status
of preservation.
