Half Dime

January 9th, 2010 | Coin Collecting, Half Dime, Rare Coins, US Coins

Bills Dollars Half dollars Quarters Dime Nickels Dimes

US $21,000,000.00

Sale

1794 HALF DIME PCGS MS 63 5998874 CAC

US $35,500.00

Sale

Money -> Coins-US -> Dimes

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

Related Posts

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......
1896 Silver Dollar Coins & Paper Money -> Coins: US -> Dollars An 1896 silver dollar is one of the Morgan dollars that were minted from 1868 to 1904, and then later again in 1921. The image on these coins was designed by George T. Morgan, and while his dollar is a collector......
Starting a Gold Coin Collection There are a number of different ways that you can buy gold, not only as jewelry or gold bars but also in the form of a gold coin collection as well. Buying into a gold coin collection is a much better option, it is also much simpler and it can......
Silver Bullion Coins Coins & Paper Money -> Bullion -> Silver People buy silver bullion coins for a few different reasons. Some buy them because of the precious metal content as an investment and buffer against inflation. Some people buy them because they fear that one day our popular currency will become worthless,......
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......

Related Websites

Is A Global Financial Meltdown Imminent? May be I've been posting too much doom and gloom in the recent past. Do I really think we're on the cusp of a global financial meltdown? No, I do not. But Telegraph does. Here's an excerpt from an article which says the meltdown has already started: If mishandled by......
Reader question: Tips for newbie collectors Commenter "jnwcmr" asked on my post on how to turn an accumulation into a collection: I have an “accumulation” of coins and banknotes from around the world, and I’d like to organize them. I’d appreciate an email on where to get plastic protector sheets for them, and maybe a pointer......
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......
If Hyperinflation Strikes, What Would You Use as Currency? If there is one thing we have learned about economic experts in the past year, it's that most of them are terrible at predicting if and when the economy will enter a period of high inflation. Ever since it became apparent that the federal government would be using extreme measures to inject liquidity into......