1844-C $5 (1844-C Half Eagle) PCGS MS62. This Southern branch mint rare 1844-C Half Eagle is fully lustrous. Extremely light abrasion is seen, more so on the reverse, which probably keeps this coin from a higher mint state grade. The strike is sharp in most areas, with just a touch of softness in the hair under BER and the eagles left talon. There is a long reverse die crack from the eagles neck to the rim passing through the wing and the first A. The die crack is a mint error that does not detract from the grade or value of the coin. When Mint Engraver William Kneass was unable to resume his duties after a debilitating stroke, Christian Gobrecht was asked to do his work, which included making a new half eagle that would be uniform with the eagle. The Liberty Head (No Motto on Reverse) half eagle was minted from 1839 to 1866.

Gobrechts design for the coin shows a left facing profile of Liberty wearing a LIBERTY inscribed coronet. Her hair is tied in the back and there are two loose curls that hang down her neck. Around the head are thirteen six-pointed stars, and the date is below the truncation. At the periphery of the coin are dentils. The coin also has a reeded edge. The reverse of the half eagle shows a heraldic eagle similar to the one on the Classic Head eagle. The inscription UNITED STATES OF AMERICA surrounds the eagle in an arc, except for its wing tips. The denomination is below, separated with dots, and written as FIVE D. The mintmark is centered between the juncture of the olive branch and arrows and the VE of FIVE.

In the 1790s gold was accidentally discovered in North Carolina. The first United States Gold Rush took place in the early 1800s in North Carolina and Georgia. In the area around Charlotte, North Carolina almost 100 gold mines were in operation. Second only to farming, prospecting for gold became the main source of employment in North Carolina. The most gold produced in the United States came from North Carolina until 1848, when it was discovered in California.

The gold that was produced at Charlotte had to be refined and standardized so it would have commercial value. Private mints like the Bechtlers and Templeton Reids opened to assay the new gold and convert it to coinage. In order to standardize this coinage and because transportation to Philadelphia was so poor as a result of bandits, unfriendly Indians, and poor roads, a branch mint in Charlotte was opened in 1836.

Two years later the first half eagle was struck at the Charlotte Mint. Quarter eagles were minted later in 1838 and gold dollars in 1849. However, no coins were made in 1845 because there was a fire, and the entire structure burned to the ground. Its last coinage was in 1861, twenty-four years after it opened. During the Civil War, the Charlotte Mint continued coining gold; however, in October of 1861 the building was converted to a Confederate army hospital and headquarters. During Reconstruction, the building was used for offices by federal troops. In 1867 the mint became an assay office, which remained in operation until 1913. During World War I it was used by the Charlottes Womans Club and as a Red Cross station. In 1936 the site was relocated south of downtown and became the Mint Museum of Art, which was the first art museum in North Carolina.

All Charlotte gold coins are scarce. Much of it is rare, and some is extremely rare because of a combination of low mintages and melting overseas. Many coins that were minted before the Civil War were used to purchase armaments abroad. Much of this coinage was melted in Europe to make coins of the realm. Only a tiny fraction of the C mint coinage survives today. In its population report, PCGS shows 2 in MS62 with only 2 better.