Flowing Hair Half Dime

The Flowing Hair Half Dime was designed by Robert Scot, the chief engraver of the U.S. Mint.

Specifications

 * Designer: Robert Scot
 * Obverse Design:
 * Reverse Design:
 * Edge: Reeded
 * Weight: 1.3 grams
 * Diameter: 16.5 millimeters
 * Composition:  Silver (89.2%), Copper (10.8%)
 * Dates Minted: 1794 - 1795

Background
Some coin experts consider the Flowing Hair half dime to be the SECOND type of half dime struck by the U.S. Mint. In a sense that’s correct, because in 1792, the mint struck some 1,500 small silver coins. These were known as “half dismes,” and a few did manage to get into circulation. But there are also many coin experts who consider the 1792 half disme to be a pattern issue, as opposed to an official U.S. Mint circulation coin. That means that our nation’s first five-cent coin was the Flowing Hair half dime of 1794-95.

History
For the history of this short-lived U.S. coin type, we go back to 1794. It was the third straight year of change and progress for the fledgling U.S. Mint. In 1792, the U.S. Mint began striking pattern coins, even though there was no official U.S. Mint building yet. In 1793, the U.S. Mint building opened in Philadelphia. That year, only copper coins were struck: a small mintage of half cents, and a no less than THREE types of large cents (they kept changing the design)! In 1794, the U.S. Mint added silver coins into the mix. All shared an obverse featuring a rather crude bust of Miss Liberty with blown-back flowing hair on one side, and a rather buzzard-looking eagle on the back. These first early U.S. silver coins have become known as “Flowing Hair” types. In 1794, the Flowing Hair dollar, half dollar and half dime were introduced.

Those silver coins made for an interesting trio: two large silver coins in the Flowing Hair dollar and half dollar, and one tiny silver coin in the Flowing Hair half dime. All the Flowing Hair silver coins of 1794 had small mintages. The dollar had a mintage of about 1,700, the half dollar a mintage of about 23,000 and about 7,750 half dimes. That’s why any collector hoping to complete the short two-year set of Flowing Hair half dimes, will be hard-pressed to find the 1794 issue. If you’re looking for a dime and quarter from the year of 1795, you’re out of luck. Both coin denominations, staples of U.S. commerce today, did not make their first appearance until 1796!

Interestingly enough, in 1794 and 1795, U.S. citizens had been using “half dimes” for years. In fact, in the mid-1790’s, many were probably surprised to see a new kind of small silver coin (the half dime) floating around with the ones they were used to using! I’m speaking of the Spanish half-reale, the rough equivalent of the half dime. Americans had been using the Spanish half reale in commerce since Colonial times, and were still using them in 1794 when the Flowing Hair half dime was introduced. Americans would CONTINUE to use the Spanish half reale (actually worth a tad more than the half dime) into 1857, long after the Flowing Hair half dime had passed into history and other half dime types had poured forth from the U.S. Mint. In other words, it took some time for the U.S. Mint to get its half dimes to push out the Spanish half reale from commerce, but this would not finally take place until about the 1840’s.

The Flowing Hair design for the half dime, half dollar and dollar was discontinued after 1795. It was considered too crude a design, not worthy of the lofty ideals and ambitions of the newly-created nation of freedom and democracy. The popular sentiment that the Flowing Hair design types weren’t quite up to snuff proved to be correct: starting in 1796, the Draped Bust obverse and reverse design types made their appearance—and to this day, these designs are considered classics of U.S. coinage art.

Still, collectors have a fondness for the Flowing Hair half dime, and its half dollar and dollar siblings. They represent the early, somewhat amateurish attempts of the newly-formed U.S. Mint to create a national coinage. They LOOK like the kind of coins the shaky U.S. Mint would create in its first years of finding its way. They were struck in the 1700’s and they were only struck for two years. Enough said. The collector demand is there for these coins and always will be. So the time to start looking for a Flowing Hair half dime is now!

Collecting
The price tag for a 1794 Flowing Hair half dime in Good is $1,000. That’s definitely not cheap, but compared to the prices of the 1794 half dollar in Good ($2,400) and the 1794 dollar in Good (a whopping $26,000), the 1794 half dime is easily your best chance to own a 1794-dated U.S. Mint coin! That’s pretty significant, considering that’s the first year of U.S. silver coinage! But be forewarned, tracking down a 1794 Flowing Hair half dime in ANY condition seems to be harder than its price tag would indicate.

Most collectors of U.S. coin types are content to track down the far more common 1795 Flowing Hair half dime for their type coin collections. Some 78,000 half dimes were struck in 1795, ten times the number of 1794 half dimes. Still, there is not a huge difference in the price tag—a 1795 retails $700 in Good, while the 1794 half dime retails just $300 more in the same grade.

Most Flowing Hair half dimes you will encounter are likely to have some problems: nicks, scratches, bends, cleaning/polishings, and most of all, holes. Apparently, unlike the Flowing Hair dollars and half dollars, the tiny Flowing Hair half dimes were popular as ornament items. I guess the tiny size of these early half dimes made them ideal earrings or pendants. But all that is to your advantage—were it not for Flowing Hair half dimes that were damaged in some way, many would be out-of-reach to the average collector.

The Flowing Hair half dime also differs from the Flowing Hair dollar and half dollar in this: it was not generally exported out of the United States for its bullion content. So while many 1794-95 dollars and half dollars were serving time in the West Indies or the Orient, any Flowing Hair half dime you encounter likely served its entire circulation tenure here in the United States. That means it circulated on the streets of Philadelphia, Boston, New York, etc. during a time when George Washington] and [[wikipedia:Thomas Jefferson|Thomas Jefferson were still alive!

Mints

 * Philadelphia Mint (no mintmark)