Liberty Seated Half Dime

History

Half dimes had been struck since 1794, and in 1837 the Capped Bust design gave way to Christian Gobrecht's seated figure of Liberty partway through the year. The motif had been tried first on the Gobrecht dollars of 1836, but its first broad circulating use came on the half dimes and dimes of 1837. The Mint Act of January 18, 1837 moved silver coinage from the older 89.243 percent standard to 90 percent silver and 10 percent copper, and the new half dimes were struck to that standard from the start. Silver hoarding in the early 1850s prompted the Coinage Act of 1853, which reduced the weight of the half dime, made fractional silver from the half dime through the half dollar subsidiary coinage, ended free coinage of it, and let the Mint buy bullion and exchange the resulting coins for gold in hundred dollar lots. The denomination lost its purpose after the three-cent nickel of 1865 and the five-cent nickel of 1866, and the Coinage Act of 1873 abolished it outright.

Details

Gobrecht designed the type, and in 1840 Robert Ball Hughes re-engraved the seated figure, work that cost the design some of the delicacy of the original. The alloy is 90 percent silver and 10 percent copper, on a reeded-edge planchet of 15.5 millimeters. Authorized weight was 20.625 grains from 1837 through early 1853, then 19.2 grains, or 1.24 grams, for the remainder of the series. Philadelphia, New Orleans and San Francisco all struck the type, with the New Orleans issues of the 1838 to 1859 span carrying an O mintmark on the reverse. Output swung widely: the first year at Philadelphia produced 1,405,000 pieces, the 1838-O No Stars issue only 70,000, and the 1853 Philadelphia With Arrows delivery reached 13,210,020, the largest figure of any date in the denomination.

Features

Liberty sits on a rock, one hand steadying a liberty cap on a pole and the other holding a shield inscribed LIBERTY, with the date along the lower border. Through 1859 the reverse carries an open wreath tied with a ribbon around HALF DIME, with UNITED STATES OF AMERICA around the periphery. The first coins of 1837 and the 1838-O have a plain obverse field, and thirteen stars were added during 1838; the no-stars treatment appeared only on the half dime and dime, and in the dollar series exists solely as 1836 patterns. Drapery was added at Liberty's elbow in 1840, so that year exists in both No Drapery and With Drapery form. Arrowheads flank the date from 1853 through 1855 to mark the reduced weight, the arrows were dropped in 1856 while the lighter standard remained, and from 1860 through 1873 the Legend Obverse type carries UNITED STATES OF AMERICA on the obverse.

Notable facts

• The 1870-S is unique, with a single known example.
• The half dime denomination spanned 1794 to 1873 across nine design types, though not every year saw production.
• The 1853 to 1855 Arrows sub-type accounts for 25,060,020 business strikes and fewer than 150 proofs.
• Proofs are where the true rarities of the series lie, with those of 1854 and later somewhat more available than the earlier dates, though still quite rare.
• Arrows half dimes are readily obtained from Good through AU but become elusive in Uncirculated and scarce in superb Uncirculated grades.
• The 1838-O No Stars commands more than the 1837 in every grade, and Uncirculated examples of it are quite rare.
• The highest mintage of any half dime date before the 1853 weight reduction was 2,760,000 in 1835.