1878 Liberty Head Half Eagle
Base
About This Coin
The 1878 Liberty Head Half Eagle is a United States Gold Half Eagle from the Liberty Head Half Eagles 1839-1908 series — 40th of 70 years in the series. In 1878, coins were struck at the Philadelphia, San Francisco, and Carson City Mints with a combined mintage of 285,494. This ranks 31st of 70 years by total mintage, below the series median of 360,195. The obverse features Liberty facing left wearing a coronet inscribed LIBERTY 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 Bland-Allison Act focused on silver, but gold half eagle production continued at three mints. Struck in copper, weighing 8.36 grams, 21.65 mm in diameter, with a reeded edge. Across its variants, estimated values range from $1.3K to $93K depending on mint mark, grade, and strike type. A notable auction result reached $82K in PR64 grade at Heritage Auctions. Designed by Christian Gobrecht.
Value Estimates
Values as of May 2026 — range across all strike types, reflecting typical grades (G-4 through MS-63). Coins in lower or exceptional grades may fall outside this range.
