American Gold Half Eagle $5 Liberty Head

The American Half-Eagle 'Liberty Head' gold coin was a circulated .900 purity coin produced by the US Mint between 1839 - 1908. It was the longest running series of American Eagle coins.

The Half-Eagle weighs .2419 of a troy ounce or 8.36 grams, with 7.53 grams of that being fine gold. This makes it .900 purity, which was in line with the majority of circulated European currencies at the time and the Latin Monetary Union. This union - and the subsequent adherence from the likes of the UK and US - was to provide consistency and equal value across a range of major national currencies for trade purposes.

The American Half-Eagle has a face value of $5, and depicts an Eagle on the reverse and Lady Liberty's portrait on the obverse, with the coin date and 13 stars surrounding the head. These stars were introduced by US Mint Director Elias Boudinot and denote the original 13 east coast colonies that declared independence from Great Britain; prior to forming the United States.