Five Dollar Gold Coins - USA

Five dollar gold coins were bought by enterprising european businessmen in the early 1830's, using their silver as collateral. They took advantage of the US coinage act of 1792 which set the ratio of silver to gold at 15 to 1. Since the same ratio was 16 to 1 in europe, the businessmen could make an instant 6 to 7 percent profit selling their us five dollar coins in europe.

In 1834 the US government decided to put a stop to this practice by reducing the weight of both five dollar gold coins and quarter dollar gold coins. So there was no longer any advantage to melting them down in europe. These five dollar coins became known as classic head half eagles and quarter eagles because libertys head on the obverse of the coin was protrayed in "classical" style much like a greco-roman sculpture from that period.

Many of the varieties of five dollar coins are quite rare. There are versions that have been overpunched and versions with different sizes of data character font. The size of librtys head is different on some coins. One of the best known examples is called the 1834 Crosslet 4.

Prior to 1834, all half and quarter dollar gold coins were known as "capped head" style. The new "classic head" coins were produced for five years by the Philadelphia mint. For the last year of production, 1839, they were produced at new mints in Charlotte, South Carolina and at Dahlonga, Georgia. These new mints had been instigated to meet the needs of prospectors working in the gold rush taking place on those areas at the time.

Facts and Figures about the "Classic Head" five dollar gold coins

Designer: William Kneass, assisted by Christian Gobrecht from 1836 forward.

Circulation Mintage: high 657,460 (1834), low 17,179 (1838-C)

Proof Mintage: high 10-15 (1834, estimated), low 1 (1837; none known for 1838-C and 1838-D)

Diameter: ±22.5 mm, reeded edge

Metal content: 90% gold - 10% copper

Weight: ±8.36 grams

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