1795 Capped Bust Right Half Eagle. Small Eagle. BD-4. Rarity-5. VF-30 Details--Ex Jewelry, Cleaned (ICG). Deep honey-gold patina blankets both sides and provides relatively strong eye appeal. The surfaces are glossy explaining the ICG qualifiers, although considerable boldness of detail remains to the major design elements, confirming this coins appeal for more affordable gold type purposes. The 1795 half eagle is one of the great classics in American numismatics as these were the first half eagles struck in America and display the elegant Capped Bust head of Liberty with the Small Eagle reverse. The half eagle denomination formed the gold backbone of the fragile banking system at the time, along with the silver half dollar and dollars (both minted in significant quantities in 1795). The gold and silver coins were retained by banks to prop up reserves, and hence a fair number of these survived after limited circulation. The term "fair number" is relative, however, and in an absolute sense all pre-1834 U.S. gold coin varieties are rare. The 1795 BD-4 half eagle, offered here, has an extant population of only 60 to 75 coins in all grades (per John W. Dannreuther, 2006).
