Classic Head Half Eagles 1834-1838

Through the 1820s and early 1830s the half eagle was worth more as metal than as money. Depositors had the Mint coin their gold into half eagles and then shipped them abroad or sold them to be melted; CoinWeek cites archive records of 40,000 half eagles melted in Paris in 1831. Almost none circulated at home.

The Coinage Act of June 28, 1834 solved the problem by lowering the gold in each coin. From August 1 the half eagle weighed 8.36 grams instead of 8.75, at .8992 fine instead of .9167, and its diameter shrank from 23.8 to 22.5 mm. To mark the change, the motto E PLURIBUS UNUM was taken off the reverse, and Chief Engraver William Kneass prepared a new obverse, a Liberty with loose curls held by a band inscribed LIBERTY, modeled on John Reich's Classic Head for the copper coins. Philadelphia struck 657,460 of the new half eagles in the remaining months of 1834, and they circulated.

Christian Gobrecht, who joined the Mint after Kneass's stroke in 1835, reworked the portrait slightly in 1836. A law of January 18, 1837 rounded the standard for gold to exactly .900 fine, so the coins of 1837 and 1838 are fractionally finer than the earlier ones.

In 1838 the new branch mints at Charlotte, North Carolina, and Dahlonega, Georgia, opened to coin gold from the Southern mines, and their first half eagles were Classic Heads. The 1838-C and 1838-D are the only branch-mint coins of the design, and both carry the mint mark on the obverse, above the date. In 1839 Gobrecht's Liberty Head, introduced on the eagle the year before, replaced the Classic Head on the half eagle.

Obverse. Liberty faces left, her curly hair bound by a band inscribed LIBERTY. Thirteen stars surround her, with the date below.

Reverse. An eagle with spread wings and a shield on its breast holds an olive branch and arrows, with UNITED STATES OF AMERICA above and 5 D. below. There is no motto.

Mint mark. On the 1838-C and 1838-D, a C or D on the obverse above the date. Philadelphia coins have none. D means Dahlonega.

Things that cause confusion.

• Capped Head of 1834. The 1834 Capped Head half eagle, struck to the old, heavier standard, shows Liberty in a cap and keeps E PLURIBUS UNUM on the reverse.
• Plain 4 or Crosslet 4 (1834). The Crosslet 4 has a short upright stroke at the end of the crossbar; Doug Winter notes it is paired with a reverse with smaller arrows.
• Liberty Head of 1839. The next design shows Liberty in a coronet with her hair in a bun. Doug Winter notes that the 1839-D still has its mint mark on the obverse, so the portrait is the quicker test.

• 1834: the Plain 4 and the Crosslet 4. Philadelphia struck 657,460 half eagles in 1834 in all; the Crosslet 4 coins are a small part of that total, and the split is not recorded.
• 1838-C: 17,179 struck, the first half eagles from Charlotte. Doug Winter estimates 150 to 175 survive, most showing heavy reverse die cracks.
• 1838-D: 20,583 struck, the first half eagles from Dahlonega. Winter counts 200 to 250 known.
• Philadelphia: 1835 (371,534 struck), 1836 (553,147), 1837 (207,121) and 1838 (286,588). Winter lists varieties within several of these years, including Small 5 and Large 5 reverses in 1836, an 1836 Script 8, and Large Date and Small Date coins of 1837.
• Proofs: Winter counts nine or ten 1834 proofs, three of 1835 and five of 1836. An 1837 proof is in the Smithsonian, and NGC lists an 1838 specimen strike, a coin whose proof status Winter does not accept.

• Composition: .8992 gold (1834-1836); 90% gold, 10% copper (1837-1838)
• Weight: 8.36 grams
• Gold content: 0.2416 troy ounce
• Diameter: 22.5 mm
• Edge: reeded
• Designer: William Kneass

Before 1837 the rest of the alloy was silver and copper; the Coinage Act of 1837 fixed the fineness at .900.