Featured An Introduction to the Early Half Dimes, 1792 - 1805

It's time for another article from the archives. I hope that you enjoy it.

This one needs lots of pictures, so it will take me a two or three messages to post all of it.


Today the nickel five cent piece is just behind the cent when it comes to modern coins that are on “life support.” Like the cent, the nickel has little purchasing power, and it now costs the mint more than five cents to make a five cent piece. The day might not be far in the future when the nickel will either have be modified from its present form (the new half dime?) or dropped as a circulating coin.

Like the cent the five cent piece has been a part of our monetary system since its inception. In April 1792, Congress passed the first coinage act which some collectors refer to as “Act One.” The Coinage Act of 1792 established ten denominations of coins from the half cent through the eagle or ten dollar gold piece and defined their weights and compositions. The Coinage Act also authorized the purchase of a plot of land in the U.S. Capital, which was Philadelphia, Pennsylvania at that time, and the construction of the buildings and the purchase of equipment that would establish first U.S. mint.




The 1792 Half Disme

In July 1792, a few days before that government purchased the land for the first mint, secretary of state, Thomas Jefferson, reported receiving 1,500 half dismes that were made in accordance the standards established by the Coinage Act. These coins, which were struck under Jefferson’s supervision, were made at the machine shop of John Harper, who was a Philadelphia artisan. On November 6, 1792 President George Washington in his annual report to Congress stated:

“There has been a small beginning in the coinage of half dismes, the want of small coins in circulation calling for first attention to them.”

“The want of small coins in circulation,” referred to the fact that the American economy had been flooded with a glut of light weight copper coins that were fast losing their value and credibility. Washington hoped that this small number of silver coins would start to shore up the nation’s monetary system.

These 1792 half dismes, which have a strong claim as the first U.S. coins, featured a liberty head on the obverse surrounded by the slogan, “LIB. (liberty) PAR. (parent) OF SCIENCE & INDUSTRY,” and the date, 1792. The reverse featured a scrawny looking flying eagle, the denomination, “HALF DISME,” and the legend, “UNITED STATES OF AMERICA.” Today about 300 of these coins survive. They are wildly popular among advanced collectors and bring strong prices in all grades.

There have been many legends and misconceptions surrounding the 1792 Half Disme. Martha Washington almost certainly did not give up her silverware for the production of these coins, but George Washington probably contributed silver in the form of coins (probably Spanish milled dollars) for the project. It is unlikely that Martha Washington was the model for the Lady that appears on the obverse of these coins. Yet, that Ms. Liberty does bear a resemblance to the portrait of Martha that Gilbert Stuart painted at the same time he was working on the picture than inspired the portrait of George that appears on the one dollar bill. Both portraits are sometimes on display at the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston.

Martha Washington portrait by Gilbert Stuart







The Flowing Hair Half Dime, 1794-5

Once the first mint opened and began to strike coins, there was a two year delay before more half dimes were struck. The reason was that the Chief Coiner and the Chief Assayer were required to post bonds that equaled more than eight years of their salary before they could handle gold and silver. Congress, with the help of Thomas Jefferson, modified this unrealistic requirement, and Jefferson helped the men to obtain loans to post their bonds. In October 1794, the mint delivered its first silver coins, a batch of silver dollars. In November the mint introduced the half dollar, and in March 1795 the facility started to issue half dimes.

The first delivery of half dimes included pieces that were dated 1794 and 1795. Die state (die wear) evidence indicates that some of the 1795 dated half dimes were minted before the 1794 dated pieces. Because of the delivery date and the die state evidence numismatists are certain that none of the 1794 half dimes were actually minted in 1794. These early pieces featured a portrait of Ms. Liberty with flowing hair encircled by 15 stars, the word “LIBERTY” at the top and the date at the bottom. The reverse featured another scrawny eagle, perched on a rock with its wings spread. The eagle is surrounded by two curved laurel branches and the legend “UNITED STATES OF AMERICA.” There was no indication of value on the coin, which was in keeping with the practices of the period. The Flowing Hair half dimes are scarce, but they are easiest of the four types of early half dime to obtain. With an estimated mintage of 78,600 pieces, the 1795 half dime is the most common date in the series from 1792 to 1805.

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Draped Bust, Small Eagle, 1796-7

The mint introduced the Draped Bust, Small Eagle half dime in 1796. This design featured an attractive Ms. Liberty wearing a drapery with her hair tied back neatly with a bow. The reverse featured a fledgling eagle that appeared to making its début into the world. Today’s collectors find this design to be quite charming, but critics at the time characterized the young eagle as a “turkey buzzard” and called for its replacement. This design lasted for only two years, 1796 and 1797, and it is quite scarce today.

The 1797 half dimes are the only U.S. coins that were minted in single year that can have 13, 15 or 16 stars on the obverse. The stars stood for each of the states that were in the Union at the time. The 15 star coins were minted at the beginning of the year. A 16th star was added when Tennessee joined the Union. Finally mint officials concluded that there was not enough room on the coin for any more stars. At the end of the year die makers reduced the number of stars to 13 in honor the 13 original states, and that design feature would appear on almost all U.S. gold and silver coins for the next century. The 15 star variety is the most common variety; the 13 star variety is very scarce.

1796 Star Half Dime



1797 15 Star Half Dime



1797 16 Star Half Dime



1797 13 Star Half Dime



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Draped Bust, Heraldic Eagle, 1800-5

In 1800 the half dime followed the lead of other silver coins of the period when the Small Eagle reverse was replaced by the Heraldic Eagle design. This rendition of the national bird is similar that found on The Great Seal of The United States except that the arrows and olive branch in the eagle’s talons are reversed. In the modern version of The Great Seal the olive branch is in the right talon and the arrows are clutched eagle’s left claw, which shows a preference for peace. On all of the early U.S. gold and silver coins the position of the olive branch and the arrows is reversed, which shows a preference for war. The reasons for this arrangement are unknown.

Most of the Draped Bust, Large Eagle half dimes from 1800 to 1805 are poorly struck. Very few pieces show the lines in Ms. Liberty’s drapery and nearly all of the coins show some weakness on the reverse in the area opposite to the drapery area. The 1800 half dime is the most common date from this group. The rarest date is the 1802 half dime, which is one of the legendary rarities in the United States series. There are only 35 to 40 examples of the 1802 half dime known.

In 1805 the U.S. mint minted 15,600 half dimes from one set of dies. After that the mint would not strike another half dime until 1829. The reason for this long hiatus was that there was little demand for half dimes among those who brought silver to the mint to be made into coins. When half dime coinage resumed, the design would be the Capped Bust motif which appeared on other silver coins of the era.

Today the early half dimes are seldom seen except at very large coin shows and in major auctions. Your author did not see his first early half dime until he had been a collector for over ten years. When I saw this first example, which was an 1800 half dime, it was love and first sight; and I’ve been collecting early half dimes by Red Book variety for more than 30 years.

1800 "LIBERTY" Half Dime. This is the most common Draped Bust, Heraldic Eagle Half Dime, but the stike and preservation on this one make it a WOW! The PCGS grade is MS-64.



1805 Half Dime, the last of its kind.



I have more early half dimes, if anyone would like to discuss this topic in greater depth.

 

Spectacular post and magnificent coins. I don't own any of these, so I'll just sit and watch.

 

Nice write up. Thanks
You mind me asking what the 97 16 star grades?

 

PCGS graded it AU-53. My take is that it has AU-58 sharpness with a 5 point deduction for the scratch on the bust.

A few people on the PCGS board didn't like it because of the scratch. My response is, "Yea, go find one with that kind of detail and strike." A fair number of the high grade ones look like the 15 star coin with weak centers.

I now have all four of the known 1797 half dime varieites. There are two 16 star varieites with a different reverse. The piece I posted here was an upgrade for this one, which I didn't sell. The eagle on the reverse of this piece never has much detail. It was used on the 15 star coin I posted earlier.



I bought this coin from a Maine dealer, Norm Pullen in the early 1980s. I have called it the best Fine-15 graded 1797 half dime on the planet. These coins are frequently found damaged, especially in this grade. NGC graded this one VF-20.

Pullen used to run ads in "Coin World." He was well-known in the New England area and used to come down for the Bay State Coin Show when it was at the Howard Johnson Hotel in Boston.

 

That obverse is spectacular even with the mark on her neck. The clash is fantastic!

 

amazing coins, thanks for showing

 

Great article.

 

Beautiful set. Thanks for sharing. Looking forward to see more of your collection.

 

Outstanding John, Thanks!

See my follow up questions in a separate post to a comment you made above regarding early coins without denominations.

 

Thanks for a great article and photos of those beautiful half dimes. Wish I owned one!

 

This coin suffered at the hands of the mint employees. Yes there is some wear but you first have to get past the multiple clash and severe die damage that this coin was struck with.

 

Wonderful coins. And another great informative post I know Norm from being a Portland area resident. I’ve bought some nice gold coins off him at good prices. My 1807 dime came from him years ago too through a couple other hands to me

 

Another great write up by you! Thanks John!

 

Awesome post. Thanks for sharing your knowledge.

 

I see that appreciate early half dimes, I recently dug one up that appears to be an H10 1803 small 8 LM-1. If I figure out how to upload a picture I'd ask you what you think about it, Excuse me I'm new here, Dave

 

@Cannonball. Welcome to Coin Talk. I'd very much like to see your coin. If you want to post photos of it start a new thread. When your post is almost complete, at the bottom of the final page click on the box that says upload a file. Click on that and go to file where you store your photos. Click on the ones you want to post then click on create thread.

 

But PLEASE select them to be full size and NOT thumbnail images!