Are you sure it's real? I could be wrong, but it doesn't look gold in the pics, and one reason gold is prized is because it doesn't tarnish.
It's a Liberty Half eagle and the Gold value alone is $442.40 right now. That will change with the price of Gold. I am no expert on coin grading so I will leave that for someone else. You can always check out www.coinflation.com to see what gold and silver coins are worth(melt wise)
From a collector's viewpoint, it's not particularly beautiful, since it's been banged up a lot and heavily circulated. I agree with the others-- if it's real, $450.
I would move on. It is not particularly beautiful and certainly not rare. Since it's raw it is not necessarily genuine. Why chance it? Spend a little more for a nice graded AU. Here's one you can make an offer on even though the BIN price is fair. (Disclaimer: don't know the seller, just picked a decent example.) http://www.ebay.com/itm/1881-P-5-GO..._Individual&hash=item2a12e8edc0#ht_500wt_1180 Lance.
I personally would not pay $450 for that coin not in the condition it's in. In fact, I wouldn't even want it unless it was going for less than melt. Just my 2 cnts.
My opinion is that this one isn't even real. Why are you so hooked on this one? If it is real it's beat up. The date doesn't look right to me. Especially the 8 in 84. The reverse has weak details and the color looks off. I would move on. Go to a show near you and see what the dealers bring if you really want a loose one. You'll have about a thousand to pick from and they'll all be in 100x better condition than this. I just bought a loose 1882-S at a show that was basically mint state. In other words, it just about looks like it was made yesterday. I gave $510 for it. I paid a premium for the mintmark and the condition. $500 will get you a loose, 'real', good one from most dates and mm's these days.
