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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;halfcent1793, post: 2795430, member: 86853&quot;]I always find the survival rates interesting. EVERY book you read says that in the early years of the US, gold was undervalued so it was all shipped overseas and melted down. Then later silver was undervalued so it was all shipped overseas and melted. Obviously, since a significant percentage of the mintage survives, what they said about these melts can only partially be true. The obvious fact is that the coins circulated, except for early half dollars which lived in bank vaults just like the Morgan dollars much later. For coppers, the early ones circulated until they were slick, and people continued to accept them based on their size until the government exchanged them for the Flying Eagle and Indian Head cents beginning in 1857.</p><p><br /></p><p>As far as half cents being a workhorse in commerce, they were, but cents were the main workhorse. Coppers were truly the money of the people. The Mint made more money coining a cent than coining two half cents because of the labor involved, so it made a lot more cents (pun intended).[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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