1873 Closed 3

The 1873 Philadelphia half eagle began the year using date punches that Mint Engraver William Barber had cut the previous November. The upper and lower knobs of his numeral 3 sat so close together that the digit resembled an 8, prompting Chief Coiner A.L. Snowden to send a formal complaint to Mint Director James Pollock on January 18, 1873. Barber was ordered to recut the punches, and two varieties resulted: the original Closed 3 used early in the year, and the corrected Open 3 for the remainder of the run. The Closed 3 accounts for the smaller portion of the roughly 112,505 business-strike Philadelphia half eagles. The year also carried weight in monetary history, as the Coinage Act of 1873 demonetized the standard silver dollar and placed the country on a de facto gold standard, later denounced as the "Crime of '73."

The coin weighs 8.359 grams at 21.6 mm, struck in 90% gold and 10% copper with a reeded edge. The variety diagnostic sits at the date: on the Closed 3 the upper and lower loops of the 3 nearly touch the central serif, giving the digit a compressed, eight-like profile, while on the Open 3 the loops are clearly separated. Authenticators also confirm specific gravity within the 17.0 to 17.4 range expected for the .900 fine alloy, since gold-plated base-metal counterfeits have surfaced for Liberty half eagles. Genuine pieces show the Type 2 With Motto reverse, with IN GOD WE TRUST on a scroll above the heraldic eagle.

Most surviving Closed 3 examples grade Very Fine through About Uncirculated. Strict Mint State coins are uncommon, with leading services reporting roughly 14 examples in MS63 and fewer than ten finer in recent reports. Both PCGS and NGC attribute the variety on their holders, giving the market a clean way to track the scarcer half of the year. A representative MS61 with a CAC sticker brought a mid-four-figure result at Stack's Bowers, and choice mid-grade pieces trade at a meaningful premium over Open 3 equivalents in the same grade. For anyone building a date or variety set of the Coronet half eagle, the 1873 Closed 3 is an achievable Semi-Key target in lightly circulated grades and a difficult one in Mint State. See the Liberty Head Half Eagle series history.