1803 Half Eagle Pattern - J-C1803-3, Kettle & Sons

Coin Details

Auction Record

Description

This brass gaming token imitates the American half eagle ($5 gold piece) and was manufactured by Kettle & Sons of Birmingham, England, in the early 19th century. The obverse features a Capped Bust Right portrait of Liberty closely modeled on Robert Scot's design for genuine US half eagles, while the reverse displays a heraldic eagle with shield, olive branch, and arrows in the manner of the official Mint reverse. The piece is struck in brass with a plain edge and coin alignment. Kettle & Sons produced these tokens to serve as gambling chips in English gaming establishments, where players used metal tokens rather than the actual gold coins they represented. The half eagle version is larger and heavier than the companion quarter eagle token (J-C1803-1), matching the proportional size relationship between the genuine US denominations. They are listed in Appendix C of J. Hewitt Judd's reference on United States pattern coins, among pieces made outside the Mint, and were sometimes offered as patterns in nineteenth-century sales.

Cross References

Judd-C1803-3; Pollock-8020