1828 8 Over 7

The 1828/7 half eagle is one of the most desirable die marriages of the entire Capped Head Left series, born from a thrifty bit of mint housekeeping. When workers at the Philadelphia Mint began preparing dies for the 1828 production run, they reached for an existing 1827-dated obverse die that had not yet been retired and simply punched a fresh 8 over the original 7 in the date. That single repurposed die produced a small fraction of the 28,029 half eagles struck across all 1828 varieties, and Bass-Dannreuther catalogs the marriage as BD-1 of the 1828/7. Today the variety is reckoned among the rarer Capped Head issues, with population reports suggesting only fifteen to twenty-five examples are known across all grades.

Variety attribution lives entirely at the last digit of the date, where the upper loop and lower curve of an underlying 7 can be seen poking through the recut 8 under good light. On a genuine survivor the underdigit shows as raised metal inside the upper loop of the 8 and as a short diagonal stub crossing the lower opening, both consistent across the small surviving population. Authentication should also confirm a coin-alignment reverse, the standard reeded edge, a weight of 8.75 grams, and a diameter near 25.0 mm in 0.9167 fine gold. Because the variety is heavily counterfeited and altered, weight and specific gravity testing is recommended before acquiring any raw example, and any coin showing a normal 1828 date with no overdate traces is simply the more common business strike.

Modern collecting interest in the 1828/7 has only grown as date-and-variety completists have entered the early gold market in greater numbers. Because most surviving examples sit in lower circulated grades, any piece in choice extremely fine or better commands strong premiums, and the few mint state survivors are true condition rarities reserved for advanced cabinets. Specialists pursuing the Bass-Dannreuther die marriages treat the BD-1 as one of the keys to assembling a complete Capped Head Left set. For the deeper history of the design and the period it spans, see our Capped Bust Half Eagle series history.