1852-C $5 Liberty Head Half Eagle PCGS AU55+ (CAC)

Here is a fantastic $5 gold piece from the Charlotte Mint to include in your numismatic collection. Please take a look at the photos provided by AUCM that present its attractive golden-green coloration.

Gold specialist Doug Winter writes, “The 1852-C has the second highest mintage figure of any half eagle from the Charlotte Mint. It is relatively easy to obtain in lower grades … The 1852-C is reasonably easy to locate in the lower circulated grades and is only marginally scarce in the lower About Uncirculated grade range. It is scarce in AU55 to AU58 and very scarce in Uncirculated.”

However, one could make an argument that overall the 1852-C is much rarer than Winter reports. When one analyzes the amount of graded pieces in relation to the original mintage, it appears to be a rarity. In total, PCGS and NGC have graded 549 original examples, per their population reports. That figure represents only 0.756 percent of the original mintage of 72,574. Out of the 276 examples graded by PCGS, there are 2 that carry the grade of AU55+ with 43 finer. In CAC, there are 5 in AU55/55+ with 19 finer.

Mint and Assay Office, Charlotte, North Carolina. Photo: Wikimedia Commons.