Early copper collectors regard this 1795 half cent as a "common variety," but I have never thought of any of the pre-1800 half cent as "common." When I was young collector, they never seemed to be available, and when they were, they had big problems. This one is a 1795, Cohen 1 half cent, which Roger Cohen, who wrote the books, rated as an R-2, not so common. Here is an "adult toy" that I bought when I was forming my type set. This piece was in the inventory of a major Early Copper dealer, and it was raw, not in a grading holder. I wanted it graded for a registry set. The one stipulation was that it could not come back as an error coin. The piece has a tiny planchet clip, and believe it or not an early coin like this that has a notation for that on the slab has a lower value. The coin came back as "normal" so here it is in my set. The coin is graded by PCGS as an AU-58. This half cent was probably struck in the fall of 1795. In 1795 the mint spent the first part of the year producing gold and silver coins only. The reason for this was the Congress with putting pressure on the facility to get something other than copper into circulation. Mint produced half dimes, half dollars and by June silver dollars. The silver dollar coinage had been delayed until the mint received a coin press that was big enough to strike them. Gold coinage, in the form of the $5 or half eagle, was introduced in July, and the first $10 gold coins were delivered in September. Finally the mint got around to making half cents and large cents in the fall. Those coins were struck on heavy plancets and had lettered edges. Late December the weight of half cents and large cents was reduced. After that the plancets were too thin to have lettered edges although a few rare experimental pieces are known.
Nice coin and thanks for the history on the lettered edge half cents. I’ve honestly never owned a liberty cap half cent surprisingly with all the coins I’ve had
