Why was the eagle allowed to fly level and not “onward and upward” on the issues of 1838, 1839 and the restrikes? The last time the eagle flew “onward and upwards” was on the die alignment II coins made in 1837. At that time, some die alignment IV coins were also issued due to a die rotation problem. The answer to this question is not known but it is possible that the level eagle configuration was considered more majestic or pleasing than the “climbing” eagle configuration. With the eagle level, it appeared that the bird (representing the United States) was “soaring”, and for what ever reason, this looked like a better situation than the “climbing” eagle. This theme was then duplicated on the flying eagle cents of 1856-1858, a time period when some of the Gobrecht dollars were also being restruck. It appears that after 1837, the Mint Director’s idea of an eagle flying “onwards and upwards” was either forgotten, or simply modified to accept the “soaring” eagle configuration. This is why no die alignment I or II coins were made after 1837, including the original issues of 1838, 1839, and the restrikes of these issues. Any variation from the “flying level” configuration is due to slight die rotation problems that invariably occurred during all strikings. The “soaring eagle” was also applied to the Flying Eagle cents of 1856-1858. This configuration was copied from the previous Gobrecht dollars in die alignment IV. Other researchers have said that the Gobrecht dollar restrikes were modeled after the Flying Eagle cents of 1856-1858, but it really appears that it was the other way around. Continue on to Summary and Conclusions or go back to Gobrecht Dollars in Smithsonian