Values
A heraldic half eagle is the capped bust facing right with a shield eagle. This page is a series reference, not a price list.
The mintage chart leaves G, VF, and MS-63 blank. The NGC US Coin Price Guide file retrieved 2026-08-21 does not cover this piece. Do not paste an auction hammer into the grade columns.
If you have one and want to sell it, start with how to sell a coin collection. The small-eagle half eagle is the previous reverse. The bust-left half eagle turns the portrait around.
Key Dates
The heraldic reverse starts while the small eagle is still in use. 1807 is the last year of the bust facing right, and the first year of the bust facing left.
Errors
Small eagle. No shield means the other page.
Bust left. Liberty faces the other way from 1807. That is not a rotated photo of this coin.
Capped head. The larger cap of 1813–1834 is a later type.
Compare the coin to the NGC Coin Explorer. We do not host their plates.
Varieties
This page is the heraldic-eagle half eagle, 1795 through 1807. The small eagle is the other page. The 1806 date punch is the style guides name.
- 1806 pointed 6 and knobbed 6Two shapes of the 6. Guides name both. They are date punches, not two mints.
Names follow PCGS CoinFacts and NGC, the same publishers this site already cites. This is a name list, not a price list and not a count.
Mintage
Capped Bust right half eagles, heraldic eagle, 1795–1807.
| Year | Mint | Mintage | G | VF | MS-63 |
|---|
Mintage: the note under this table names the page that printed each count. These figures are not an NGC Coin Explorer extract and they are not the 1974 Mint pamphlet.
Collector-standard year/mint presentation follows A Guide Book of United States Coins (the Red Book). These cells are Mint manufacture figures, not a Red Book net or melt.
Values: NGC US Coin Price Guide, retrieved 2026-08-21. Guide values, not offers. Not melt. NGC IDs link to the same publisher’s price-guide listing.
Key date names: PCGS CoinFacts (2026-08-21). Bold rows are only dates that publisher named.
The chart is empty on purpose. The half eagle article does not print a year-by-year mintage table. A remembered count does not. The grade columns are empty because this site has no NGC guide extract for this coin.
Specifications
These are mint specs, not what a dealer pays. Wear can take a little weight off. We will not invent a tolerance. The weight row is the 1792 standard for a half eagle. No catalog page used here prints a thickness.
| Specification | Figure |
|---|---|
| Diameter | Not printed |
| Thickness | Not printed |
| Weight | 135 grains standard (Coinage Act of April 2, 1792) |
| Composition | 11/12 gold, 1/12 alloy (Coinage Act of April 2, 1792) |
| Edge | Not printed on a cited catalog page |
| Designer | Robert Scot |
No catalog page used for the heraldic-eagle Capped Bust half eagle prints a thickness. Diameter and thickness stay Not printed. The weight is the 1792 half-eagle standard. Bust left begins in 1807.
Grading
A heraldic half eagle wears first on the cap and on the shield.
Bust right is this page. Bust left, starting in 1807, is the next half eagle.
Key Diagnostic Areas
| Area | What to examine | Why it matters |
|---|---|---|
| Cap | The cap, bust facing right. | A left-facing bust is the 1807–1812 page. |
| Shield | The eagle and the shield. | A wreath and a small eagle are the earlier reverse. |
| Date | The overlap years, read with the bust. | 1795 and 1798 exist on both reverse pages. The reverse decides. |
| Surfaces | The shield details. | Flat shield lines are wear. Digging them out is damage. |
Circulated & Mint State
These cards describe this coin, not a second copy of the P-1 through MS-70 chart. The shared numbers live on the glossary.
See graded photos. The photos that show what VF looks like live at PCGS. We do not host their plates. NGC Coin Explorer is another look if you want a second set.
What each named grade looks like on this design.
Poor
Poor
A disk you can still call a capped bust half eagle heraldic if you already know the type.
- The cap and the shield are gone.
- The date may be a shadow. Do not scrape it.
- Shine does not make this a better coin.
AG
About Good
You might read a digit. The high points on this capped bust half eagle heraldic are already slick.
- The cap and the shield are worn to a blank patch.
- If you cannot read the date without hoping, stay here.
- A 1806 half eagle is still this grade if it is this worn.
Good
Good
The date is readable. The design is still mostly an outline.
- The cap and the shield are flat. The type is an outline, not a portrait.
- The rim should be full enough to hold the legend.
- This is a worn coin, not a details story.
VG
Very Good
The date is clear. A little life returns away from the high points.
- Some leftover detail sits away from the cap and the shield.
- The high points are still tired.
- Do not clean the date to “see it better.”
Fine
Fine
You can follow the design. The high points are outlined, not sharp.
- The cap and the shield are outlined and flat — no real sharpness yet.
- The rest of the coin can look busier than the grade.
- The date should be clear. The mint mark should be too, if there is one.
VF
Very Fine
The type is doing real work. The cap and the shield still decide.
- Leftover detail sits on the cap and the shield. The centers are still the worn spot.
- Marks do not raise the grade.
- A regular 1806 half eagle is still this grade if it is this worn.
EF
Extremely Fine
Most of the coin looks sharp. The high points tell on it.
- Light wear on the cap and the shield.
- The rest of the coin can look better than the grade. Trust the high points.
- The date should be sharp.
AU
About Uncirculated
Almost no wear — and “almost” lives on the same high points.
- A trace of rub on the cap and the shield.
- Luster may still sit in the fields. Rub on those high points is still rub.
- A bright coin with a slick high point is still slick.
Basal MS
Mint State
No wear. The fight is marks and luster, not how white the coin looks.
- No rub on the cap and the shield.
- Marks and luster decide how this mint-state coin lives.
- A bright chewed-up coin is still chewed-up.
Choice
Choice Mint State
Still no wear. Cleaner fields than basal mint state.
- Same no-wear rule on the cap and the shield.
- Fewer marks in the fields. Luster is more intact.
- White is not a grade.
Gem
Gem Mint State
A clean capped bust half eagle heraldic for this type. Still mint state, still not a story.
- No wear on the cap and the shield.
- Marks and luster, not a romance about a date or a white field.
- A slab is an opinion in plastic. The glossary has the numbers.
This page does not invent a PR price grid. The proof numbers live on the glossary.
Copper color designations do not apply to this gold coin. See the Lincoln Wheat cent and the glossary.
Overview
This is the heraldic-eagle half eagle with the bust still facing right, from the mid-1790s through 1807. The small eagle overlaps the start. The bust-left type overlaps 1807 at the end. Keeping them apart is the point of three pages instead of one undated “early half eagle.”
The photograph is a 1797 half eagle with the heraldic eagle, from the National Numismatic Collection. The small eagle is a different page.
This page is a series article, not a shop listing.
History
After the first small-eagle half eagles, the Mint put a heraldic eagle on the reverse, the same idea used on the silver coins of the period. Production of this bust-right heraldic coin runs to 1807. The half eagle article does not list the deliveries. This page does not pretend it did.
Design
Obverse: capped bust right. Reverse: heraldic eagle, shield, outstretched wings. No mint mark. The shield is the type marker against the small eagle.
People Also Ask
Why is the chart empty?
The half eagle article does not print a year table for the heraldic reverse. This page will not invent one.
Why do some dates appear on the small-eagle page too?
The Mint used both reverses in the overlap. The coin in your hand decides the page. The date alone does not.
Is 1807 the bust-left coin?
Bust right with a heraldic eagle can be 1807. Bust left is the next page, and it also includes 1807.
How much is a heraldic half eagle worth?
This page does not print guide prices. The NGC US Coin Price Guide file retrieved 2026-08-21 does not include this coin. An auction result is not a guide cell.
Collector Considerations
On an overlap date, trust the reverse and the direction of the bust. Do not add a small-eagle coin and a heraldic coin into one imagined total.
The capped head half eagle starts in 1813, after the bust-left type.
A Final Word
The heraldic half eagle page is a shield, a bust facing right, and an empty chart.
An auction story is not a mintage.