Their makeshift efforts produced a miracle of sorts. The first coins, eighty five-dollar gold pieces, were finished on 17 April. Singleton thought they were beautiful.” — Sylvia Gailey Head and Elizabeth W. Etheridge, The Neighborhood Mint: Dahlonega in the Age of Jackson, 1986</em>One of the finest known specimens of the only Classic Head $5 struck at the Dahlonega Mint, the Pogue 1838-D half eagle retains profound cartwheel within the obverse and reverse peripheries. Well struck and appealingly bright, this coin shows even yellow gold surfaces, perhaps a bit darker on the reverse than obverse. The obverse is quite satiny, while the reverse is more mattelike at centers, where some light natural granularity is visible under magnification. The eye appeal is very good, and the scattered marks and lines are individually inconsequential. A slightly blurry planchet streak around two tiny planchet laminations is noted below the lower ribbon behind Liberty’s hair, and a vestige of a slightly darker toning area remains above the wing at left. The obverse has been lapped, thinning and hollowing the hair atop the back of Liberty’s head and leaving Liberty’s mouth and eye socket open and reflective. A tiny lump at the juncture of Liberty’s jaw and neck remains from an earlier die clash, a clashing that was likely also the source of the lump below the tip of the eagle’s beak and a more subtle lump behind the base of the eagle’s head. Lumps are also hidden within the top of the shield, and lapping has hollowed details in and near the talon at left. The die texture at the lower reverse periphery is quite rough. A thin die crack spiders along the tops of MERICA.All 20,583 half eagles coined in Dahlonega in 1838 were struck by a single die pair. Most coins were distributed regionally and saw extensive circulation, and 1838-D half eagles in Fine and Very Fine grade are not unusual. Sylvia Gailey Head and Elizabeth W. Etheridge’s <em>The Neighborhood Mint: Dahlonega in the Age of Jackson</em> reports that the first coins struck at Dahlonega were half eagles. The first press run of 80 coins was struck on April 17, 1838, as recorded in a letter from Mint Superintendent Dr. Joseph J. Singleton to Philadelphia Mint Director Robert M. Patterson on May 1, 1838. Lacking good leadership and technical skills, the Dahlonega Mint got off to a rough start. Important equipment took ages to reach the remote hills of north Georgia from Philadelphia, or it never arrived at all. Quarter eagles were not struck until 1839, and the new half eagle dies for 1839 were not received until April of that year. Though silver coinage was authorized by Congress to be struck in Dahlonega in 1840, the facility struck nothing but gold coins until its closure. Taken over by the Confederacy in 1861, the mint structure was left abandoned after the Civil War. In 1871, the building was given to the North Georgia Agricultural College. After the mint burned down in 1878, another structure was constructed on the foundation and now serves as an administration building for the University of North Georgia.This issue garners interest from several different quarters. Type collectors seek it out as the only Dahlonega Mint Classic Head half eagle. Dahlonega specialists require examples to complete date runs, and those who pursue first year of issue coins cherish the 1838-D as the first half eagle of the Dahlonega Mint. Those groups compete for the small number of high grade 1838-D half eagles extant, and demand pressure is heightened by the propensity of Southern gold enthusiasts to collect multiple specimens. This was one of several fine 1838-D half eagles in the famous Duke’s Creek Collection. Chosen as the second finest example in that cabinet, it was sold as a duplicate under the name “Chestatee Collection” in the 1999 American Numismatic Association sale. The front-line Duke’s Creek coin was included in Doug Winter’s Condition Census as finest known, while this was accorded the title of third finest. The provenance in the Winter book was incorrect, however; this coin and the Ashland City example are two discrete specimens. This coin is tied with one other, last sold in January 2011, as the finest ever certified by PCGS.PCGS# 8178. NGC ID: 25S6.
