1797 Capped Bust to Right Half Eagle - 1797/5, Heraldic Eagle

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Description

This is the 1797/5 overdate variety of the 1797 Capped Bust to Right Half Eagle. Dies were expensive, and a serviceable die left over at the end of a year was often kept and re-dated rather than destroyed: the new digits were punched directly over the old ones. The earlier date survives underneath wherever its strokes fall outside the digits punched over it, which is why an overdate is read from the shapes that do not belong to the date as printed. The effect is in the die, so every coin struck from it carries the same remnant in the same position. A Gold Half Eagle from the Philadelphia Mint, the 1797 Capped Bust to Right Half Eagle - 1797/5, Heraldic Eagle belongs to the Capped Bust to Right Half Eagles 1795-1807 series. The heraldic eagle reverse went into production in 1798, so the 1797/5 coins were struck then, from an obverse die dated 1797; no separate mintage was recorded for them. The obverse features Liberty facing right in a tall soft cap, and the reverse displays a heraldic eagle with a shield on its breast, arrows and an olive branch in its talons, and the motto E PLURIBUS UNUM on a scroll above. Both 15-star and 16-star obverse varieties exist, reflecting the addition of Tennessee to the Union. Struck in 91.7% gold, 8.3% silver and copper, weighing 8.75 grams, 25 mm in diameter, with a reeded edge. Cataloged as PCGS #8077.