1810 Capped Bust Left Half Eagle
Small Date, Tall 5
By 1810, half eagles were struck in substantial quantities to serve the ever-growing demand for gold. Four die marriages are known from four separate obverse dies and three reverse dies. An estimated 20,00 to 30,000 coins were produced from this pair evidently on at least two separate occasions, according to Bass and Dannreuther. Much like most of the early half eagles, large numbers were melted down, leaving precious few surviving pieces. While the BD-1 variety is the second most common die pair, it is significantly scarcer in all grades than the Large Date Large 5 BD-4 die marriage. Somewhere around 150 to 200 or so specimens are estimated to exist in numismatic channels.
The example to the left was sold by Stack's Bowers Galleries in the D. Brent Pogue Part III Auction, where it realized $99,875.