1839 $5 AU50 Certification #40866518, PCGS #8191

Charles Morgan

1839 Liberty Head Half Eagle

In 1839, Christian Gobrecht’s Liberty Head design officially replaced William Kneass’s Classic Head type (1834–1838) on the $5 gold half eagle. Gobrecht introduced a taller, slimmer bust of Liberty with her hair swept up under a pointed diadem.

While modernizing the portrait, Gobrecht maintained several of Kneass’s core motifs — most notably the thirteen obverse stars surrounding the date. On the reverse, the Heraldic Eagle and inscriptions remained familiar, though Gobrecht’s eagle stood noticeably more upright with more delicate, smaller talons.

Gobrecht’s design became the uniform portrait for U.S. gold coinage, debuting on the $10 gold eagle in 1838 and the $2.50 gold quarter eagle in 1839. It enjoyed an extraordinary run until the early 20th century, when President Theodore Roosevelt famously embarked on his "pet crime" to revamp American coinage — ultimately ushering in the iconic works of Augustus Saint-Gaudens and Bela Lyon Pratt.

Collecting the 1839 Liberty Head Half Eagle

The Philadelphia Mint struck 118,143 1939 Liberty Head Half Eagles (#8191). Because virtually the entire mintage saw heavy commercial use, well-preserved examples are tough to come by — though circulated pieces remain accessible to collectors:

The finest-known examples top out at PCGS MS64, with only three examples graded at this level. Of those,

Raised Dot Feature

Eagle-eyed collectors will spot a unique die quirk on this issue: every single known example of the 1839 Liberty Head Half Eagle features a distinct raised dot (die chip) on Liberty’s neck, behind her hair. Another, smaller chip is present just above the bust truncation.

* * *