Values
Private gold is a shelf of issuers, not a price list. This page is an overview.
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 group. 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. Federal half eagles from 1834 are the half eagle page. Older federal fives are the capped bust and capped head pages.
Key Dates
There is no single key date. A date on a Bechtler, a California piece, or a later western coin is that issuer’s date. It is not a Philadelphia mintage.
Errors
Federal coin filed here. A Mint half eagle, eagle, or double eagle belongs on its federal page.
One census for every issuer. A Georgia coiner is not a San Francisco private assayer.
Invented production. A survival story is not a mintage.
Varieties
Private and territorial gold is a shelf of issuers, not varieties of a federal half eagle. Bechtler, Moffat, and Kellogg are names this page already uses. A private die can look close to a federal eagle and still be the other coin.
- BechtlerGeorgia and Carolina private coiners. The issuer’s name is the split, not a federal mint mark.
- Moffat and other California issuersWestern private gold. It is not a San Francisco federal eagle just because the denomination looks familiar.
- KelloggAnother California issuer this page already names. It does not share a federal year table with the others.
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
No single issuer. No single table.
| 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. A private-gold overview is not 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 group.
Specifications
These are mint specs, not what a dealer pays. Wear can take a little weight off. We will not invent a tolerance. These pieces do not share one weight or one fineness. No catalog page used here prints a thickness for the whole group.
| 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 | The issuer changes by coin |
No catalog page used for the private gold overview prints a thickness. Diameter and thickness stay Not printed. Issuers do not share one weight or one fineness.
Grading
Private gold wears first in the issuer’s name.
A federal half eagle can share a denomination and still be the wrong coin.
Key Diagnostic Areas
| Area | What to examine | Why it matters |
|---|---|---|
| Issuer | Bechtler, Moffat, Kellogg, or another name. | The name is the series, not a mint mark. |
| Denomination | The value the private die claims. | A federal page covers only Mint coins. |
| Fineness | The legend, when it states a fineness. | Issuers did not share one alloy. |
| Surfaces | The devices on the obverse and the reverse of the private die. | Do not skim a soft gold field. There is no single federal reverse here. |
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.
What each named grade looks like on this design.
Poor
Poor
A disk you can still call a private gold if you already know the type.
- The issuer name 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 private gold are already slick.
- The issuer name and the eagle are worn to a blank patch.
- If you cannot read the date without hoping, stay here.
- A private gold coin is still this grade if it is this worn.
Good
Good
The date is readable. The design is still mostly an outline.
- The issuer name 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 issuer name 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 issuer name 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 issuer name and the eagle still decide.
- Leftover detail sits on the issuer name and the eagle. The centers are still the worn spot.
- Marks do not raise the grade.
- A regular private gold coin 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 issuer name 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 issuer name 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 issuer name 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 issuer name and the eagle.
- Fewer marks in the fields. Luster is more intact.
- White is not a grade.
Gem
Gem Mint State
A clean private gold for this type. Still mint state, still not a story.
- No wear on the issuer name 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.
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 overview. See the Lincoln Wheat cent and the glossary.
Overview
When federal gold was scarce, private coiners and territorial assayers struck their own. The Red Book keeps that material apart from Philadelphia and branch-mint gold. This site gives it one overview so the half eagle and eagle pages stay federal. It does not split every issuer into a page that would require mintages this project does not have.
No paired public-domain type plate was added. One Bechtler would not stand for a California slug.
This page is a series article, not a shop listing.
History
The need shows up in the southern gold region and again in the West. Names such as Bechtler, Moffat, and Kellogg are issuers, not mint marks on a federal coin. Some pieces copy a federal denomination. The issuer’s name, or the lack of a federal mint mark, is the split.
Design
There is no single obverse and reverse. Each issuer used its own pair. Read the name on both sides before you read the grade. A private die can look close to a federal eagle and still be the other coin.
People Also Ask
Why is this one page?
Private and territorial gold covers many issuers. They are not one Mint series with one table. This page is the overview.
Why is the chart empty?
Bechtler, Moffat, Kellogg, and the other names do not share a year-by-year federal mintage table. Empty is the honest chart.
Is a federal half eagle this page?
No. Philadelphia and branch-mint half eagles stay on the half eagle pages. A private coin may imitate the denomination. It is still a different issuer.
How much is a private gold coin worth?
This page does not print guide prices. The NGC US Coin Price Guide file retrieved 2026-08-21 does not include this group. An auction result is not a guide cell.
Collector Considerations
Identify the issuer. Then decide whether the piece is even that coiner’s coin or a later copy. Federal gold from 1795 on has its own pages.
Early American copper and foreign silver are the early American overview. Trials are the patterns overview.
A Final Word
The private gold page is a map of issuers, not a mintage chart.
An auction story is not a mintage.