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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;johnmilton, post: 4289656, member: 101855&quot;]<b><u>Draped Bust, Small Eagle, 1796-7</u></b></p><p><br /></p><p>&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp; 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.</p><p><br /></p><p>&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp; 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.&nbsp; 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.</p><p><br /></p><p><b>1796 Star Half Dime</b></p><p><b><br /></b></p><p><b>[ATTACH=full]1091909[/ATTACH] [ATTACH=full]1091910[/ATTACH] </b></p><p><b><br /></b></p><p><b>1797 15 Star Half Dime</b></p><p><b><br /></b></p><p><b>[ATTACH=full]1091911[/ATTACH] [ATTACH=full]1091912[/ATTACH] </b></p><p><b><br /></b></p><p><b>1797 16 Star Half Dime</b></p><p><b><br /></b></p><p><b>[ATTACH=full]1091913[/ATTACH] [ATTACH=full]1091915[/ATTACH] </b></p><p><b><br /></b></p><p><b>1797 13 Star Half Dime</b></p><p><b><br /></b></p><p><b>[ATTACH=full]1091924[/ATTACH] [ATTACH=full]1091925[/ATTACH] </b></p><p><b><br /></b></p><p><b>Next Post!</b>[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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