1856-S Liberty Head Half Eagle. AU-58 (PCGS).Beautiful golden-rose surfaces with nearly full luster in a soft satin texture. Striking detail is razor sharp in virtually all areas, and the in hand appearance is uncommonly smooth for a lightly circulated, early date San Francisco Mint gold coin. Because of distrust of paper money, gold coins were the workhorse medium of exchange in the West. The entirety of the 105,100 mintage of 1856-S half eagles immediately entered circulation with little notice and went to work helping to make a dent in the enormous demand for lower denomination gold coins. And stay there they did -- the half eagle denomination had long been popular in commerce throughout the United States and especially so in California. In all degrees of preservation, the issue is notably scarce: <em>PCGS CoinFacts</em> estimates that 225 examples exist in all grades. Of those, the typically offered grades are VF to low end AU. For the Western Americana specialist, here is an extraordinary opportunity to add a remarkable survivor from the earliest days of the San Francisco Mint and an underappreciated rarity.From The Des Moines Collection.