1854-S Liberty Head Half Eagle (1839-1908)

Intriguing History

By 1854, the California Gold Rush was flooding the country with bullion, prompting new gold denominations and, in 1854, a brand-new branch mint in San Francisco, even as the Compromise of 1850 papered over the deepening sectional dispute over slavery in the new territories. This $5 Liberty Head half eagle was struck during exactly this period of American gold coinage. This one came from the San Francisco Mint, opened in 1854 to coin the flood of West Coast bullion.