1894 Liberty Head $5 Half Eagle

1894 Liberty Head half eagles were produced at the Philadelphia, New Orleans (O), and San Francisco mints; the Carson City (CC) Mint ceased coin production in 1893. As was usual for the time, the branch mints of New Orleans and San Francisco produced far fewer coins than the Philadelphia Mint, which struck nearly 1 million coins.

Here is a breakdown of the mintages and values of 1894 $5 Liberty Head half eagle gold coins:

• 1894, 957,880 minted; $787

• 1894-O, 16,600; $826

• 1894-S, 55,900; $826

*Values are for coins grading Very Fine 20 unless otherwise stated.

Collectors should bear in mind that the mintages listed above do not represent population figures. Given the gold content of half eagles (0.24187 ounces per coin), many of these pieces have been melted for their bullion content. Thus, the number of coins left behind is but a fraction of what the mintage figures may suggest.

These classic U.S. gold coins were designed by Christian Gobrecht, who might be most famous not for gold coins but, rather, silver coinage. He designed the Seated Liberty silver coinage that was struck from the late 1830s into the early 1890s.

Christian Gobrecht designed 1885 Liberty Head half eagles, which measure 21.6 millimeters wide and contain 0.24187 ounces of gold. Interestingly, Gobrecht also designed the silver Seated Liberty coinage that was in production from the late 1830s through the early 1890s.