1851 Liberty Head $5 Half Eagle

1851 Liberty Head $5 half eagle gold coins were struck at the Philadelphia, Charlotte (C), Dahlonega (D), and New Orleans (O) mints. This means there are four basic varieties of 1851 Liberty Head half eagles, with no significant die variations noted to date. Certainly, all 1851 Liberty Head $5 gold half eagles are considered scarce today, though the Charlotte and Dahlonega gold pieces are by far much scarcer. 1851 New Orleans $5 gold half eagles are scarcer than Philadelphia pieces, but not nearly so as the Charlotte and Dahlonega issues.

Below is a glance at the mintages and values for 1851 $5 half eagle gold coins:

• 1851, 377,505 minted; $860

• 1851-C, 49,176; $2,000

• 1851-D, 62,710; $2,000

• 1851-O, 41,000; $1,312

*Values are for coins grading Very Fine 20.

Christian Gobrecht, who designed the silver Seated Liberty coins from the 19th century, was he designer of the 1851 Liberty Head half eagles. Because these coins have a pre-Civil War vintage and are overall quite scarce, these old Liberty Head $5 gold coins are historically significant and have high price premiums over the value of their intrinsic gold content; these coins contain 0.24187 net ounces of pure gold and weigh a total of 8.359 grams.