Values
A half eagle’s market depends on which head you have and which mint struck it. 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 these coins. Empty grade cells are empty on purpose.
If you have one and want to sell it, start with how to sell a coin collection. The quarter eagle is the smaller cousin. The eagle is the ten-dollar coin.
Key Dates
No key list was copied onto this page. Branch-mint dates are not bolded from memory.
Errors
No mintage table. The article used here does not print year-by-year counts. The chart stays empty.
Pre-1834 gold. Capped bust half eagles from the 1790s and early 1800s are a different group. They are not rows here.
Two Indian ideas. The Liberty head is raised. Pratt’s Indian head is incuse. Do not call a weak Liberty a Pratt coin.
Compare the coin to the NGC Coin Explorer half eagle pages. We do not host their plates. The explorer is not the mintage source for this chart.
Varieties
This page starts with the 1834 weight change. Classic Head, Liberty Head, and the incuse Indian head share it. Earlier half eagles are other pages.
- Classic HeadThe head after the 1834 weight change. 1834 comes with a plain 4 and a crosslet 4. Guides name both date punches.
- Liberty HeadThe coronet head that follows. It is a raised portrait.
- Indian Head, from 1908Bela Lyon Pratt’s incuse portrait, the same idea as the Indian quarter eagle at the five-dollar size. The devices sit in the fields.
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
Classic Head, Liberty Head, and Indian Head half eagles after 1834.
| 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 Wikipedia half eagle article does not print a mintage table. This chart stays empty. Proofs stay off. Pre-1834 half eagles stay off.
The chart is empty on purpose. The Wikipedia article does not print a mintage table. Proofs stay off. Pre-1834 half eagles stay off.
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 Classic Head, the Liberty head, and the incuse Indian head are not given one shared thickness on this page.
| Specification | Figure |
|---|---|
| Diameter | Not printed |
| Thickness | Not printed |
| Weight | Not printed |
| Composition | Not printed on a cited catalog page |
| Edge | Not printed on a cited catalog page |
| Designer | Classic Head, Liberty Head, and Pratt’s incuse Indian head |
No catalog page used for the half eagle prints a thickness. Diameter, weight, and thickness stay Not printed. The quarter eagle planchet is not copied onto this coin.
Grading
A half eagle wears on the head and the eagle. Classic Head, Liberty Head, and the incuse Indian head share this page.
It is larger than a quarter eagle and smaller than an eagle. Size is the first check.
Key Diagnostic Areas
| Area | What to examine | Why it matters |
|---|---|---|
| The head | Classic Head, Liberty coronet, or incuse Indian head. | This page starts in 1834. Earlier half eagles are a different page. |
| Incuse fields | Marks in the fields of a Pratt coin. | On that type the fields are high. A weak Liberty head is not this design. |
| The eagle | The eagle on the reverse, and that its style changes with the type. | The reverse is part of the grade. The head does not name that bird. |
| Denomination | Five dollars, not two and a half and not ten. | The Indian heads of 1908 exist at two sizes. |
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 half eagle if you already know the type.
- The head and the eagle 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 half eagle are already slick.
- The head and the eagle are worn to a blank patch.
- If you cannot read the date without hoping, stay here.
- A Liberty Head is still this grade if it is this worn.
Good
Good
The date is readable. The design is still mostly an outline.
- The head and the eagle 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 head and the eagle.
- 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 head and the eagle 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 head and the eagle still decide.
- Leftover detail sits on the head and the eagle. The centers are still the worn spot.
- Marks do not raise the grade.
- A regular Liberty Head 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 head and the eagle.
- 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 head and the eagle.
- 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 head and the eagle.
- 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 head and the eagle.
- Fewer marks in the fields. Luster is more intact.
- White is not a grade.
Gem
Gem Mint State
A clean half eagle for this type. Still mint state, still not a story.
- No wear on the head and the eagle.
- 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.
Proof half eagles exist. 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 page is the half eagle from the 1834 weight change through 1929. Classic Head, Liberty Head, and Pratt’s incuse Indian head share it. The coin is five dollars of gold. It is not the quarter eagle and it is not the eagle.
The photograph is an 1834 Classic Head half eagle from the National Numismatic Collection. Liberty Head and Indian Head half eagles share this page. Do not grade every half eagle as if it were that plate.
This page is a series article, not a shop listing.
History
The 1834 weight cut pulled gold coins back toward face value. The half eagle follows the quarter eagle through a Classic Head, a long Liberty head, and an incuse Indian head beginning in 1908. Branch mints struck a large share of the Liberty dates. The Wikipedia article used for this page does not include a mintage table at all, so this chart does not borrow one from another denomination.
Proofs were struck in many Liberty years. They are not listed here. Earlier half eagles, including the first years of the Mint, wait for their own page.
Design
Obverse: Classic Head and Liberty Head stand up from the fields. The Indian head, by Bela Lyon Pratt, is cut in. Reverse: an eagle, and the style of that eagle changes with the type. A mint mark identifies a branch mint. It does not change the head.
Look at the hair or the headdress. On the incuse coin, check the fields for marks, because the fields are the high points.
People Also Ask
Why is the chart empty?
The Wikipedia half eagle article does not print a mintage table. This page will not invent annual counts.
Does this include the 1795 half eagle?
No. This page starts with the 1834 weight change. Earlier half eagles are a later page.
What is the incuse Indian head?
Bela Lyon Pratt’s 1908 design. The portrait sits in the fields. It is the same idea as the Indian quarter eagle, at the five-dollar size.
How much is a 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 series.
Collector Considerations
Match the size. A half eagle is larger than a quarter eagle and smaller than an eagle. The Indian heads of 1908 come in both the quarter eagle and the half eagle. Read the denomination.
An empty chart means the table was not in the source. It does not mean you should skip the mint mark.
The eagle is the next denomination up. The quarter eagle is the same gap, one size down.
A Final Word
The half eagle page is three heads and no table yet. The counts stay off until a cited year table is in the file.
Pre-1834 half eagles are not quietly included.