1807-1834 Capped Bust Half Eagles
The 1832 Capped Bust Half Eagle with 12 Stars is a rare and unusual variety. When the engraver was punching stars into the obverse die, he mistakenly left too much space between them. As a result, the coin only had enough room for twelve stars, rather than the usual thirteen. From an unknown original mintage, […]
In the early days of the United States Mint, it was common practice to reuse dies as a cost savings measure. The 1825 “5 over 4” Capped Bust Half Eagle was created when a left over 1824 obverse die was overdated to 1825 with the remnants of the “4” clearly visible. This extremely rare variety […]
During the course of the broader series, the mintage levels for the Capped Bust Half Eagle spanned a wide range, from less than one thousand pieces to more than a quarter million. While these figures are interesting to study, the mintages by themselves are often of limited utility for determining the rarity of a particular […]
Despite a relatively large original mintage, the 1822 Capped Bust Half Eagle has emerged as one of the most famous rarities within American numismatics. Virtually the entire original production of 17,796 pieces was melted, leaving only three known survivors. The massive gold melts of the early 1820’s occurred when the market value of gold exceeded […]
The 1815 Capped Bust Half Eagle has the lowest mintage of the series at a mere 635 pieces. The entire mintage was released by the Mint in a single batch on November 3, 1815. There are currently only eleven individual pieces positively identified, with a few more pieces rumored to exist. All known examples are […]
Across all three subtypes, the Capped Bust Half Eagles were struck with a composition of 91.67% gold and 8.33% silver and copper, as established under the Coinage Act of 1792. The diameter of the pieces changed during the course of the series due to the adoption of the new minting technology. For the first two […]