Draped Bust Half Cent

The Draped Bust Half Cent is a true Jeffersonian coin. Especially when you consider that the Draped Bust half cent existed from 1800 to 1808, the exact span of years that Thomas Jefferson was President! The Draped Bust half cent stands out in another way amongst early U.S. coins (“early” as in 1793-1807)-- a way that’s favorable to collectors of U.S. coins.

Specifications

 * Designer: Robert Scot
 * Obverse Design: Liberty Bust
 * Reverse Design: Wreath with "Half Cent"
 * Edge: Plain
 * Weight: 5.44 grams
 * Diameter: ±23.5 millimeters
 * Composition:  Copper - 100%
 * Dates Minted: 1800-1808

Background
Designed by Robert Scot, the Draped Bust half cent replaced the Liberty Cap half cent of 1794-97. The new Draped Bust half cent featured a new type of Liberty bust on the obverse. This Miss Liberty wore a hair ribbon. She had a younger, more feminine look, with long flowing hair that curled gracefully down to her back. This bust was fuller beneath the neck with the top of the bust showing, though it was modestly covered by drapery. On the reverse was basically the same wreath and “Half Cent” within the wreath that had appeared on the earlier half cents of 1793 and 1794-97.

History
Though the Draped Bust half cent’s first year mintage of 211,530 pieces seems small to us now, it was actually a pretty healthy mintage for the time. Especially for a coin type that there was little public clamor for. Just why DID the United States make half cent coins? It mainly had to do with the proliferation of Spanish-Colonial silver coins circulating in the United States.

True, the United States Mint was by this time striking her own silver coins, but obviously they weren’t making enough to go around. The American public still loved using Spanish and Spanish-Colonial silver. It was the Spanish-Colonial silver coins (struck in such places as Mexico, Peru, Bolivia, Chile, etc.) that prompted the need for a half cent. Consider: goods in the U.S were often priced in Spanish measurements—so while something priced at “two bits” (two reales) was the equivalent of twenty-five U.S. cents, something priced at “one bit” (one reale) would have to be paid for in the equivalent of 12 and ½ cents!

Collecting
The half cent did circulate. Even so, it did not flood U.S. commerce -—the large cent was still the small-change coin of choice. Because the Draped Bust half cent was struck on decent copper planchets (unlike the earlier Liberty Cap half cents) and did not circulate as much as the large cents, it’s not too terribly uncommon to come across a Draped Bust half cent in Fine, or even Very Fine! True, they’re not all over the place—remember, no half cent of any type is “common.” But the Draped Hair half cent survived in nicer grades far more than did the Draped Hair large cent. That’s what I meant when I said the Draped Hair half cent stood out amongst early U.S. coin types—it is THE most available and affordable early U.S. coin type (1793-1807) in nicer circulated grades!

Let’s compare the values for the Draped Hair half cent and the Draped Hair large cent. As a type, the Draped Hair half cent is actually SCARCER than the Draped Hair large cent. If we take a common date Draped Hair half cent (1804) and a common date Draped Hair large cent (1802), they are valued pretty close in the grade of Good: the 1804 half cent retails $47 in Good, the 1802 large cent, $500. But look what happens when we go up to the grade of Fine: the 1804 half cent is valued at $85, but the 1802 large cent retails $2150! The difference is more pronounced in the grade of Very Fine: the 1804 half cent is valued at just $125, the 1802 large cent at $5250! Clearly, it’s harder to find a nicer grade Draped Bust large cent than the scarcer (mintage-wise) Draped Hair half cent! This should open your eyes to the great opportunity afforded you courtesy of the Draped Bust half cent -- an opportunity for you, the collector, to own a nice-grade early U.S. coin at an affordable price!

Only the 1804 half cent had a mintage higher than 1 million. The next highest mintage was for the 1805 (814,464). Mintages were significantly down from that in other years: 97,900 in 1803, 356,000 in 1806, 476,000 in 1807 and 400,000 in 1808. The REALY key date in the series is 1802 with only 14, 366 struck! There are two types of 1802 half cents: the reverse of 1800 (thin wreath) and the reverse of 1802 (fuller wreath). The 1802 with the reverse of 1802 is valued at $800 in Good, but the 1802 with the reverse of 1800 is valued at a eye-popping $15,000!

Actually most dates in the Draped Bust half cent series are broken down into sub-varieties. Most varieties have to do with whether or not a date has a large or small numeral, or whether the reverse wreath has stems or not. There is an 1804 “spiked chin” variety, but it isn’t valued higher than any other 1804 variety. There is also an 1808 struck over 1807 variety that retails $300 in Good.

The Draped Hair half cent was retired after 1808 (its big sibling the Draped Bust large cent was retired the year before) to make way for the new Classic Head half cent. But by owning a Draped Hair half cent, you have a coin that circulated in the United States when some of our great Colonial forefathers (like, oh, Thomas Jefferson) were still alive, and when our nation had yet to extend beyond the Mississippi River!

Mints

 * Philadelphia Mint (No mintmark)