In 1807 the Mint replaced Robert Scot's Capped Bust to Right half eagle with a new design by John Reich. Reich turned Liberty to the left, put her in a soft cap bound by a band lettered LIBERTY and wrapped her shoulders in drapery. On the reverse he kept a shield-breasted eagle holding an olive branch and arrows, set the motto E PLURIBUS UNUM on a banner above it and, for the first time on a half eagle, added the value: 5 D. Half eagles dated 1807 exist in both designs.
The coin kept the weight and fineness of 1795, 8.75 grams of .9167 gold. Over six years the Mint reported from 33,875 half eagles (1809) to 100,287 (1810) a year. The eagle had not been struck since 1804, and the quarter eagle was coined only in 1808, so the half eagle carried nearly all of the country's gold coinage. Old dies were again pressed into service. The 1808/7 comes from a die first dated 1807, and the 1809 has long been catalogued as 1809/8, though current study suggests the figure beneath may be a mispunched 9.
The type ended in 1812, as war with Britain began. Walter Breen recorded a small group of Mint State 1812 half eagles that seems to come from an old hoard, and some experts think part of the 1813 deliveries came from dies dated 1812. In 1813 Reich reworked the portrait into the larger Capped Head, cutting the bust back to the neck.
