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HALF EAGLE – LIBERTY HEAD, NO MOTTO [1839 – 1866]. The gold half eagle shown above was designed by Christian Gobrecht, who was hired when William Kneass suffered a stroke and (eventually) died. Although Gobrecht was not appointed Chief Engraver, he is credited with the most prolific of all half eagle designs. Known as the Liberty Head Half Eagle to collectors, this piece was further reduced in 1840 to 21.6 millimeters in diameter, as you may have noticed when comparing the coins on this page to those in Gallery Two. A more significant change with the Liberty Head coin is that all elements of the design, to include the lettering, became part of the master hub. Prior to this, each letter was individually punched into the hub, which made for some rather interesting, though unintentional, variations. The exceptions were, not surprisingly, the digits of the date, and the mint mark initials. Coin images courtesy of Stack’s Rare Coins, New York City. |  |
HALF EAGLE – LIBERTY HEAD, NO MOTTO [1866 – 1908]. Gobrecht's reverse design for the Liberty Head gold half eagle was modified in 1866 with the addition of a ribbon, unfurled above the eagle, bearing the Civil War inspired motto "In God We Trust". Coin images courtesy of Stack’s Rare Coins, New York City. |  |
HALF EAGLE – INDIAN HEAD [1908 – 1929]. Bela Lyon Pratt’s Indian Head design was selected upon the death of Augustus Saint Gaudens, who had been favored by President Theodore Roosevelt for the complete overhaul of US gold coinage. Pratt had been a student and protégé of Saint Gaudens. The design is often described as “incuse”, meaning, the opposite of relief. In fact the design is a depressed relief -- with the highest points set slightly lower than the surface of the fields. Amusing contemporary criticism centered upon the Indian (“not authentic”), the eagle (a “European” variety, not an American bird), and the sub-surface design, which was said to be unstackable, easy to counterfeit, and amazingly… “unhygienic”. This and the quarter eagle of the same design are now considered some of America’s most beautiful numismatic expressions. Coin images courtesy of Bowers and Merena Auctions. |
