1857 Liberty Head $5 Half Eagle

1857 Liberty Head $5 half eagle gold coins were struck at the Philadelphia, Charlotte (C), Dahlonega (D), New Orleans (O), and San Francisco (S) mints, with each producing less than 100,000 examples of this coin that year. All 1857 Liberty Head half eagles are considered scarce, but the branch mint issues from that year are the scarcest of all, including the coinage from the Charlotte, Dahlonega, and New Orleans mints.

Below is a look at the mintages and values of the 1857 $5 Liberty Head half eagle gold coins:

• 1857, 98,188 minted; $860

• 1857-C, 31,360; $2,000

• 1857-D, 17,046; $2,000

• 1857-O, 13,000; $1,443

• 1857-S, 87,000; $1,005

*Values are for coins grading Very Fine 20.

Christian Gobrecht, who designed the silver Seated Liberty coins from the 19th century, also was the designer of the 1857 Liberty Head half eagles. While these half eagles contain a notable amount of gold, providing 0.24187 net ounces of pure gold in each coin, 1857 $5 coins are not usually pursued by bullion investors. These high prices are due to the high premiums over spot, which is due to the history and scarceness of these old gold coins. In fact, the surviving populations of the five different 1857 $5 gold half eagles are but a fraction of their original mintages.