1869 Liberty Head $5 Half Eagle

1869 Liberty Head $5 half eagle gold coins were made at the Philadelphia and San Francisco (S) mints. These two mints would carry the production of the half eagle gold coin from 1862 through the rest of the decade. This is due to the fact that the southern mints (Charlotte, Dahlonega, and New Orleans) ceased federal coin production beginning with the 1862 striking year, during the early Civil War era.

Here’s a look at the mintages and values of 1869 $5 Liberty Head half eagle gold coins:

• 1869, 1,760 minted; $1,543

• 1869-S, 31,000; $913

• 1869 proof, 25; $25,000

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

The mintage figures above don’t reflect the current surviving population of 1868 half eagles; this is critical to remember when perusing the mintage figures for any old coins. While mintage figures are certainly informative and enhance the academic numismatic understanding of coins for a certain year, reported mintages are typically much higher than the number of survivors of the same coin. This is quite true with 19th century gold coins especially, which were melted in large numbers during later years. 1869 $5 half eagles contain a net total of 0.24187 ounces pure gold per coin, which is a notable figure indeed. As an interesting side note, it’s important to note that 1869 Liberty Head $5 gold half eagles were designed by Christian Gobrecht. Gobrecht served as the third Chief Engraver of the United States Mint and is perhaps most recognized for designing the Seated Liberty silver coinage of the 19th century.