1848-Da

The Dahlonega Mint struck 47,465 half eagles in 1848, a figure that placed the year in the middle of the branch's output. Production sat well below the 1843-1845 peaks but stayed comfortably ahead of the lean years that bracketed Dahlonega's 1861 closure. The mint drew its bullion from the placer washings and vein workings of north Georgia and turned out coins for a regional economy that still ran heavily on hard money. January 1848 also brought James Marshall's discovery at Sutter's Mill in California, but news traveled slowly and the year's Dahlonega product was struck from familiar Appalachian gold long before any West Coast bullion reached Treasury channels. The combined mintage on this page covers both the standard 1848-Da and the separately cataloged D-over-D repunched mintmark variety.

The 1848-Da follows standard Dahlonega specs: 8.359 grams, 21.6 millimeters, 90 percent gold with a copper alloy, reeded edge, with the D mintmark below the eagle on the reverse. Strike quality is the defining authentication tension. Most surviving examples show notable softness on the highest points of Liberty's hair and the eagle's neck feathers, and many carry abrasions in the open fields. Those features are normal Dahlonega production characteristics, not later damage. Counterfeit risk centers on added-D fakes built from Philadelphia 1848 host coins, so the mintmark deserves a careful look at the join line, the punch shape compared to other Dahlonega D issues, and the alloy color, which tends toward a yellow-olive cast. Any repunching on a coin attributed as plain 1848-Da belongs on the D-over-D page instead.

Doug Winter places the 1848-Da among the conditionally scarce Dahlonega half eagles rather than the appearance-rarity keys of the series, which he reserves for issues like the 1842-D Large Date, 1854-D, 1856-D, 1860-D, and 1861-D. Circulated examples in Very Fine through About Uncirculated do appear with regularity, helped along by recent Fairmont Collection sales. Mint State coins are a different story, with only a handful confidently attributed at that level and the Duke's Creek example long cited as the lone fully unquestionable Uncirculated piece. Eye appeal carries a premium because so many survivors are abraded or weakly struck. A recent benchmark is the PCGS VF25 CAC from the Fairmont group at $2,640. For the broader picture, see the Liberty Head Half Eagle series history.