The $5 Liberty Gold Coin - Tips for Collecting

On April 2^nd, 1792, the United States Mint was authorized by Congress to start production on the $5 Liberty gold coin. Up until this point, only $10 coins had been minted. Since there was not a denomination on these $10 gold coins, the public really had no name for them so it only made sense that the $5 Liberty gold coin became nicknamed the “Half Eagle” coin. Consequently, the $20 gold coin is referred to as the “Double Eagle” while the $2.50 gold coin is called the “Quarter Eagle.”

The $5 Liberty gold coin is the only coin that was produced at every one of the open seven United States Mints during its circulation. The $5 Liberty gold coin was minted at Denver beginning in 1906 with a “D” mintmark, San Francisco wears a “S” mintmark, New Orleans offers an “O” mintmark, Carson City has a “CC” mintmark, Philadelphia has no mintmark present, Charlotte displays a “C” mintmark and Dahlonega has a “D” mintmark up until 1861.

The $5 Liberty gold coin was produced at the Philadelphia Mint throughout its entire production run. However, during the Civil War years, minting of the $5 Liberty gold coin slowed down substantially at the Philadelphia Mint so since the San Francisco branch was also producing gold coins at the time, they picked up the slack.

During this time, there was also some production of the $5 Liberty gold coin series at the New Orleans, Dahlonega and Charlotte mints. Later, once the motto was added to the $5 Liberty gold coin, they were struck at Carson City. Upon the opening of the Denver Mint, the $5 Liberty gold coin was produced there 1906 and 1907. The only mint that did not take part in the production of the $5 Liberty gold coin was West Point, as this location did not open until 80 years after the coin was officially discontinued.

$5 Liberty Gold Coin Obverse and Reverse

The $5 Liberty gold coin had a few design revisions throughout its history. One of the final designs and probably the most popular of all of the $5 Liberty gold coin designs was minted from 1839 through 1908 and designed by Christian Golbrecht.

The obverse side of the $5 Liberty gold coin features Lady Liberty wearing a tight bun that is complemented by a string of beads. On the top of her head rests a coronet with LIBERTY inscribed in it. Enveloping her portrait is 13 stars for each of the colonies, along with the date.

The reverse side of the $5 Liberty gold coin features a wing-spread, proud American eagle, perched among olive branches. Three arrows are clenched between the talons of the eagle on the $5 Liberty gold coin. The eagle also features a shield with stars and stripes at his chest. The mintmark, denomination and UNITED STATES OF AMERICA surround the eagle.

The $5 Liberty gold coin series that was minted between 1839 and 1866 are lacking the IN GOD WE TRUST motto. The reverse of the $5 Liberty gold coin was modified in 1966, placing a ribbon directly above the eagle and adding the motto.

Collecting the $5 Liberty Gold Coin

The $5 Liberty gold coin is a favorite to collect since they can be collected by series such as with or without the motto sets, the Southern mintmark sets and the mintmark sets in general. A complete series of the $5 Liberty gold coin can be a challenge to attain considering those minted prior to 1878 are quite difficult to find.

Additionally, to find a $5 Liberty gold coin minted during the Civil War is scarce and those coined at Charlotte and Dahlonega are very limited. Mint records show that in 1841, 50 of the $5 Liberty gold coin series were minted but none are known to still exist.