1814 Capped Head to Left Half Eagle - 1814/3

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Description

This is the 1814/3 overdate variety of the 1814 Capped Head to Left 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. Any mintage given below counts the entire issue for this date and mint, not this variety: a variety comes from one die or a few, and how many coins they struck was never separately recorded. Part of the Capped Head to Left Half Eagles 1813-1834 series, the 1814 Capped Head to Left Half Eagle - 1814/3 is a Gold Half Eagle from the Philadelphia Mint. The 1814 Capped Head to Left Half Eagle issue as a whole had a mintage of 15,454; how many coins carry this variety is unknown. The obverse features Liberty facing left wearing a cap with curls of hair beneath and the reverse displays a heraldic eagle with shield on breast, olive branch and arrows in talons, with a banner reading E PLURIBUS UNUM. The 1814/3 overdate is a collected variety. Production continued at Philadelphia. 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 #8117.