Five
Dollar Gold Coin (Half Eagle)
Five dollar gold coins had been available since 1795. They were
one of the earliest coins produced by the United States. During
the period when Butch Cassidy and other outlaws were active,
the Liberty Head Half Eagle could have been the one of the coins
they found in their loot bags after a robbery.
Why don’t
we have any $5 gold coins today?
Because of
the Great Depression, many banks were failing in the early
1930’s. After the Gold Reserve Act and the Emergency
Bank Relief Act became law, people had to turn in all of their
gold, and they got paper money in return. Gold coins were
no longer legal tender. That means people couldn’t use
them to buy things. Only collectors could keep gold coins.
Most of the gold coins in the United States were melted down.
The 1933 gold double eagles were issued after the Gold Reserve
Act, but because they were no longer legal tender, most of
the 1933 gold coins were melted down in late 1934--some were
destroyed in tests. Two of the $20 double eagles were presented
by the United States Mint to the U.S. National Numismatic
Collection.
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