You might think a half dime is simply a modern nickel. But half dimes were actually silver coins worth 5 cents that were minted before the coins that eventually became our modern nickels. They were authorized in 1792, much smaller than the dimes of the time and much thinner, giving them the actual appearance of being almost half a dime. When lobbyists fought to have nickel included in the creation of new coins in the 1860s, the new three- and five-cent coins pushed out the older silver coins so the original half dimes were last minted in 1873.

The US half dime was minted from 1794 to 1873, and was one of the original coins minted in the United States. The first design is known as the Flowing Hair design because of the Liberty’s flowing hair, but was only struck for 2 years before being changed to the Draped Bust, Small Eagle design. This design also lasted for only 2 years, before half dime minting stopped and wasn’t resumed against until 1800. This design was known as the Large Eagle design, with the Great Seal of the United States appearing on the reverse of the coin. These were struck until 1805, and then no more were minted until 1829.

The half dime that returned in 1829 now bore the words “five cents” instead of half dime. The design appearing on this coin lasted until 1837, when a Seated Liberty design once again bearing the words half dime was minted. New minting in 1837 saw the silver content lessen, though the coins remained the same size. In 1840 the design was changed to include drapery and stars, and wasn’t changed again significantly after that. After the Civil War in 1866, nickel-based 5-cent coins were circulated at the same time as silver half dimes but 1873 saw the last half dimes minted to make way for the 5-cent coins.
Of all the half dimes available today, the 1802 Draped Bust, Heraldic Eagle is one of the most rare and collectible. Only a little over 13,000 of them were struck, but only about 16 are known to exist today. The half dime is still an interesting conversation piece, aside from its collector and real-world value.

Because the silver content of the half dime dropped long before minting stopped, people tended to try to acquire the earlier half dimes so more of the newer coins were struck to replace them. The most valuable coins are the earlier ones with higher silver content, though some were actually minted without the name of the country because of a die problem, and these are valuable novelties for coin collectors.

The half dime is a fairly rare coin so the best places to find one in good condition are places like eBay where a huge variety of sellers can present their items. The best way to find the value of a coin is to consult a coin guide, and compare that to the most recent information you can find online.

Originally posted 2008-12-07 14:00:27. Republished by Blog Post Promoter

• Gold Eagle Coins Coins & Paper Money -> Gold -> American Eagle Gold Eagle coins are American currency, first released in 1986, that contains the stated amount of actual gold weight claimed in troy ounces, with a silver and copper alloy added to make the coins less soft and more wear resistant. The......
• The Art of Ancient Coin Collecting Coins have been treated as a method of currency for as many as thousands of years now. Collecting these little pieces of ancient history has become an extremely popular past time among many people. For many people, the idea of ancient coin collecting has become a true passion as well......
• United States Commemorative Coins The United States Mint gains authorization from the United States Congress to produce what are known as commemorative coins, which are produced rather regularly throughout the years for a myriad of different purposes. These coins are produced to commemorate, to celebrate or to honor people, events, places and institutions for......
• John Quincy Dollar Roll Money -> Dollars -> Presidential-2007-Now Whether you’re new to coin collecting or you’ve been fascinated by coins for years, now is the time to invest in a John Quincy Adams dollar roll. If you have a free book offered by the US Mint to house your Presidential Dollars collection, you’ll......
• 1971 Canadian Fifty-Cent Piece Money -> Coins-Canada -> Fifty-Cents If you're a coin collector, specifically a Canadian coin collector, you might enjoy looking for a 1971 Canadian fifty cent piece to add to your collection. The trick to this is finding the right fifty cent piece to know whether the coin is worth merely......

• Precious Metals In Short Supply? I received the following letter this morning from a company that I have bought precious metals from in the past: Dear David, Due to the OVERWHELMING demand for precious metals, our online ordering system has been unable to keep up with our customers’ needs. We have had to disable the......
• Peter Schiff: Dollar Is The Next Bubble To Collapse Here's an excellent video starring Peter Schiff.  He predicts that the US Dollar will be the next bubble to burst. As a corrollary, I think gold will be the next bubble. The dollar collapse seems unlikely, you say? Well he did predict the collapse of the housing market 4 years......
• Using Coinstar To Turn Coins Into Cash Sometime during my college years I began saving my coins in an old spaghetti sauce bottle. Ever since I graduated college, I began using rewards credit cards for almost every purchase. For the infrequent times I am forced to pay with cash, I still toss my coins into an old......
• Ceramic Piggy Banks Antiques -> Decorative Arts -> Ceramics, Porcelain Ceramic piggy banks have an interesting history. Why pigs, exactly, and not bank shapes or a tiny safe? Apparently, we use pigs because of language, and a simple mistake. The word “pygg” was an old English word for an orange clay commonly used......
• First Morgan Silver Dollar Arrives I got my first Morgan Silver Dollar today. Morgans are beautiful, large and allegedly the most popular collectible coin in the US today. This particular specimen was minted in 1896 making around a 110 years old. Its in pretty good condition for a coin of that age. Considering I......

• Liberty Walking 1916-47 Halves Coins US Coins Paper Money
• 1941-47 Liberty Walking 1916-47 Halves Coins US Coins Paper Money
• Seated Liberty 1840-73 Dollars Coins US Coins Paper Money
• 1916-31 Mercury 1916-45 Dimes Coins US Coins Paper Money
• 20, Double Eagle Gold Coins US Coins Paper Money