5 Dollars '1860 Half Eagle' Pattern, gold

Judd-271 is one of several pattern half eagles produced in 1860 as the Mint explored design alternatives ahead of what would become a turbulent decade for American coinage. The Civil War was still a year away, but the monetary pressures that would eventually drive gold entirely out of circulation were already building. Patterns from this period were struck in very small numbers — often fewer than a dozen survivors are known for a given Judd number — and were distributed primarily to Mint officers and favored collectors rather than through any public channel.

William Idler and later John Haseltine were the dominant private dealers through whom most 1860s patterns changed hands in the nineteenth century.