1901 Liberty Head $5 Half Eagle

1901 Liberty Head half eagles were minted at the Philadelphia and San Francisco mints as had been the case for several years both before and after. However, the year marked the first time in a long time that there had been any significant design varieties. These involve an overdate on some of the 1901-S half eagles, which have a substantial premium in price over the “regular” 1901-S $5 gold coins.

Here’s a breakdown of the mintages and values of 1901 $5 Liberty Head half eagle gold coins:

• 1901, 615,900 minted; $815

• 1901-S, all kinds; 3,648,000

• 1901-S Final 1/0, mintage included above; $815

• 1901-S, mintage included above; $815

• 1901 proof, 140; $12,500

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

While the 1901-S 1/0 overdate is an interesting variety, it’s important to remember that relatively few coin collectors set out on collecting gold coin die varieties due to the expense of the pieces. There is certainly a market for such coins, but it should be remembered that it represents a very small collecting population.

While Liberty Head half eagles are indeed gold coins, they really are not “bullion” coins and are rather viewed as numismatic collectibles. For the record, 1892 Liberty Head half eagles were designed by Christian Gobrecht and contain 0.24187 ounces of gold.