Indian Head $5 half eagle

I was researching the 1911-D and came across this interesting trivia...albeit unique trivia. The pic is, of course, a 1908 plain.

Distinctions
The $5 denomination has the distinction of being the only denomination for which coins were minted at eight US mints. Prior to 1838 all half eagles were minted in Philadelphia because there were no other operating mints. In 1838, the Charlotte Mint and the Dahlonega Mint produced half eagles of the Coronet type in their first years of operation, and would continue to mint half eagles until 1861, their last year of operation. The New Orleans Mint minted half eagles from 1840 to 1861. The San Francisco Mint first produced half eagles in 1854, its first year of operation, as did Carson City in 1870, and Denver in 1906.
Although circulating half eagle production was discontinued in 1929, half eagle commemorative and $5 denominated (1/10 ounce) bullion coins were minted at West Point starting in the late twentieth century.

 

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So this made me run off to see if that's all the US mints. Wikipedia says no -- they count the US branch mint that operated in Manila from 1920-1922 and 1925-1941. I'm not sure what I think of counting that one, though.

I feel good that I could name all eight mints without looking at the list, but given the price of Charlotte and Dahlonega specimens, I doubt I'll ever complete a mint set... but it's an intriguing idea.

 

A mint mark set of these would be expensive indeed, no matter the grade.

 

I was thinking the same...but in gold is WAY OUT of my league!

 

Yep!

 

Jeff, and @Golden age and @Coinlover67
another thing that makes the $5 Gold Indian unique...
The half eagle and quarter eagle are identical in design, and are unique in American coinage in having incuse (engraved, as opposed to bas-relief) designs.

 

To which I would add: Thank Goodness. Not a fan of the incuse design, especially when it comes to trying to grade them.

Now, your turn: which currently-minted US coin denominations have part of their design struck incuse? (I'm not counting State/National Park/Famous Dogs quarters, because who can keep track of what's incuse or relief on 100+ designs...)

 

One significant correction on the New Orleans minted half eagles, they were minted after 1861 very occasionally and scarcely up until 1909 - the latter is the key of the $5 series. 1909 has the distinction of being the last year there were four operating US mints and it is possible, especially with dimes to do a date set. With the half eagle the price goes up exponentially.

 

Hmmm...part of the design?

 

Yeah, not sure how to make it into a good trivia question. I'm thinking incuse lettering, which I guess really means I shouldn't exclude the ATB quarters...

 

The "golden dollars" ? (W/O. checking )

 

That's one -- the edge lettering is incuse. There's another that I found surprising.

 

30th ann. S.A.E. edge lettering

 

The one I have in mind is a circulating issue.

 

Ok, ... sacs, pres, Kennedy, wash, Jeff, rose, Linc. How about those ? (LOL )

 

The shield design on the cent has some incuse lettering.

 

Wow,... so, I guess I got it. Cool.

 

I'm actually sort of working on a mint mark set of $5 Libertys. I always thought it would be cool. It's not a "top priority" set of mine, but just two coins left. Hopefully, I'll be able to pull the trigger when the opportunity strikes.

Link to set

 

Good luck, I hope you are able to complete the set, will be awesome.

 

That's the one I had in mind. Until I started digging around during this thread, I didn't realize that E PLURIBUS UNUM was incuse. I had to stare with a flashlight and a magnifying glass to convince myself.