1806 Capped Bust Right Half Eagle. BD-6. Rarity-2. Round-Top 6, Stars 7x6. AU-55 (NGC).，Marbled tones of ivory and yellow-gold adorn both sides of this pleasing survivor from the penultimate year of the Capped Bust Right design type. Considerable luster emanates from the protected regions, enhancing uniformly bold design elements.<p>The year 1806 saw the return of the Lewis and Clark Expedition to the East and the beginning of Zebulon Pikes second exploration of the Rocky Mountains, describing the Colorado peak that would soon bear his name. As the still young nations economy grew, so too did the need for a robust monetary supply. The production of precious metal coins at the Philadelphia Mint was dependent on bullion deposits. One gold coin stood out above the rest in terms of everyday utility: the half eagle. Of the initial three gold denominations authorized, it was the half eagle that was in such demand that it was struck almost continuously with only a few interruptions throughout the 19th century. Production of half eagles trended upwards from the earliest days and this was the case in 1806. The 64,093 half eagle minted in 1806 dwarf the roughly 1,600 quarter eagles struck the same year (gold eagle production had been suspended two years earlier).<p>To accommodate the increased output, five obverse dies and six reverse dies were paired together in six different combinations for 1806-dated coinage. The five Pointed-Top 6 die marriages combined produced only a limited number of half eagles, a paltry showing for so many dies. However, the solitary Round-Top 6 pairing proved to be remarkably resilient: an astonishing 35,000 to 50,000 coins were produced from this one die marriage. Why was there such a large difference in die life between these two varieties? An exhaustive examination by John Dannreuther revealed that the coiner switched the obverse die to the anvil position on the base of the coining press, and placed the reverse die in the role of the hammer die. The coiner found that by doing so, he could achieve a dramatic improvement in die life as well as impart a much sharper and crisper strike. This improvement aided future half eagle production and mintage numbers remained reasonably high.<p>In the 1820s and 1830s, speculation in gold led to large scale exports of gold coins abroad, only to be melted down at a profit. Many of the earliest American gold coins ended up in these melts and the 1806 half eagle is no exception. Fortunately, enough survived the speculators crucibles, leaving between 600 and 900 (if not even more) examples of the BD-6 variety, a generous supply by early half eagle standards that is continuously tapped by type collectors and series specialists alike.，PCGS# 8089. NGC ID: 25P5.，，
