1811 Capped Bust Left Half Eagle. BD-1. Rarity-3+. Tall 5. MS-63 (PCGS). This charming coin exhibits subtle pale rose highlights to dominant golden-honey color. Both sides are fully lustrous with a satiny finish from the dies. Those same dies imparted sharp to full detail throughout the design, the reverse rotated approximately 20 degrees counterclockwise from normal coin alignment. BD Die State a/c.<p>Thanks in part to its more modest face value, the half eagle was more practical for use in day to day commerce during the earliest years of U.S. Mint operations. Demand for the denomination from contemporary bullion depositors was such that for an 11-year period from 1809 through 1820, half eagles were the only gold coins produced. However, by the 1820s the intrinsic value of these coins exceeded their stated value, causing the majority of the Mints modest output of half eagles to be exported and eventually end up in the crucibles of European speculators and bullion dealers. (Others may have been melted stateside, perhaps within the Mint itself.) Consequently all pre-1834 gold coins are scarce, if not outright rare by definition. The 99,581 half eagles produced in 1811 are no exception. Only two die marriages were required to strike the entire production run, both of which share the same obverse die. The principal difference between these two die pairs is found on the reverse when comparing the size of the digit 5 in the denomination 5 D. On the BD-1 die marriage, represented here, the digit 5 is tall, located entirely to the left of the lowermost arrow feather, and tilted sharply to the right. The Tall 5 variety is the somewhat scarcer of the two pairings of this date, with an estimated 175 to 250 surviving pieces in all grades. The choice surfaces and overall excellent state of preservation of the present example make this an especially desirable offering for advanced collectors. PCGS# 507600.
