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Message:: [QUOTE="andrew289, post: 308631, member: 6463"]My thesis is based on the belief that a half dime is a seperate series from the 5-cent piece. The half dime was a silver coin that started in 1793 and was discontinued in 1873. The 5-cent piece was introduced in 1866 to compete with the half dime and made the half dime redundant so the half dime series was discontinued in 1873. While the half dime has a VALUE of 5 cents, it's NOT a 5 cent piece. Half dimes were made of silver but 5-cent pieces were not (until the war years as thoughfully reminded by the fine collector from San Deigo) there were always a nickel-copper mix. You can call the mint out on overlooking the war years but to call the Mint out saying that a half dime is a 5 cent piece, is not correct (i.e. wrong) in my opinion. Half dimes are not 5-cent pieces per se. They just happed to have a value of 5 cents which is merely unfortunate. Thus, this statement "The five cent coin was originally (also called the half dime) in silver." I find incorrect and hence my argument.[/QUOTE]