Seated Liberty Half Dime

The Seated Liberty Half Dime was struck from 1837 to 1873 and is part of the Seated Liberty Series.

Specifications

 * Designer: Obverse by Thomas Sully, executed by Christian Gobrecht; Reverse by Christian Gobrecht
 * Obverse Design: Goddess Liberty seated upon a rock
 * Reverse Design: Wreath
 * Edge: Reeded
 * Weight: 1.3 grams
 * Diameter: 15.9 millimeters
 * Composition:  Silver (90%), Other (10%)
 * Dates Minted: 1837-1873

Background
Small as it is, the Seated Liberty Half Dime is large in history. This is a coin that spanned the time of Andrew Jackson, covered wagons heading out West, Abraham Lincoln, the Civil War and the Reconstruction Years. It's worth adding to your collection!

The half dime was the first denomination struck when the United States Mint was established in 1792 and the "Seated Liberty" designs appeared on most regular-issue silver United States coinage during the mid- and late-nineteenth century, from 1836 through 1891.

Trivia Question: Was the 1870 U.S. five-cent coin a small silver coin or a nickel coin? The answer is….. yes.

In the peculiar history of our nation’s five-cent coin, there was a span of years, from 1866 to 1873, when there were two distinctly different five-cent coins coming out of the United States  Philadelphia mint:  the Seated Liberty half dime and the Shield nickel five-cent coin. Finally, in 1874, there was only the “nickel” being struck. This article is about our nation’s most prolific pre-nickel five-cent coin: the Seated Liberty half dime.

There had been three major types of silver half dimes before the Seated Liberty half dime appeared. But none of those half dime types had nearly the life span of the Seated Liberty half dime. The Flowing Hair half dime was only struck in 1794 and 1795; the Draped Bust half dime from 1796-1805, and the Capped Bust half dime from 1829-37. But the Seated Liberty half dime was struck from 1837 to 1873, and unlike the previous half dime types, was struck at three different mint sites: Philadelphia, New Orleans and San Francisco.

History
In one sense, the Seated Liberty half dime was consistent throughout its 66-year life span. The major design elements never changed: there was always the same seated Miss Liberty on the obverse, and on the reverse, a wreath within which were the words “Half Dime”. Still, that design was tweaked at various times from 1837 to 1873, resulting in six major sub-types:
 * 1) The no-stars type (1837-38)
 * 2) The stars around the rim, no drapery type (1838-40)
 * 3) The drapery added type (1840-53)
 * 4) The arrows-at-date type (1853-55)
 * 5) The arrows-at-date removed type (1856-59)
 * 6) The “United States of America” replacing stars type (1860-73).

The early “no-stars” half dimes of 1837-38 are quite interesting. With just the depiction of seated Miss Liberty and a date – no stars, no legend whatsoever—this coin has a rather stark, classic beauty. Without the later stars or legend elements added, the no-stars Seated Liberty half dimes somewhat resemble experimental pattern coins. A deep cameo Proof no-stars Seated Liberty half dime would be something to behold! The mintage of no-stars half dimes were relatively small: about 1.4 million struck in 1837. Only around 70,000 no-stars half dimes were struck in 1838, and in that year, ONLY at the New Orleans mint! This is a coin type worth owning. Not only is the no-stars half dime the earliest of the Seated Liberty half dimes, but they’re also two-year-only types— and that’s not even taking into account their beautifully minimalist obverse design!

Throughout the production years of the Seated Liberty half dime, their output rarely equaled that of the dime. In fact, throughout the series, there are plenty of date/mintmark combinations that fall below 1 million. Examples of particularly scarce date/mintmark combinations are the following: 1844-O, 1846, 1853 No Arrows, 1863, 1863-S, 1864, 1864-S, 1865, 1866, 1867, 1868, and 1871-S (keep in mind where no mintmark is given, that is a Philadelphia mint issue).

I actually left one particular Seated Liberty half dime off the above list of rare/scarce dates. This one deserves special mention, because it’s one of the great rarities in the halls of U.S. Numismatics: the 1870-S Seated Liberty half dime. Don’t try to find one. There is only one in existence. It sold in a 1986 auction for $253,000. I’ll bet a lot of well-heeled collectors wish they had come up with at least $254,000 at the time, because today, that uncirculated 1870-s half dime would probably hammered down at a million dollars or more!

The most common Seated Liberty half dimes you will encounter will be those of the late 1840’s, the 1850’s (especially), and the 1870’s. If you’ll notice from the above list of scarce dates, the 1860’s was a period of meager half-dime production. So if you ever get a chance to look through a small lot of Seated Liberty half dimes, look for those all-important 1863-68 dates! Every now and then, a dealer will toss a scarce date/mintmark half dime in with a bunch of common ones (that’s how I got a VG 1864-S half dime for just $4 some years back)!

Though a good many Seated Liberty half dimes come down to us today in well-worn shape, a surprising many survive in nice condition. Perhaps they weren’t used in commerce as much as the dime and quarter. Personally, I think it has to do with the tiny size of the half-dime. Whereas a dime, quarter or half dollar is big enough to be grasped in a finger-and-thumb grip (thus wearing down the coin’s surface through multiple such touches), the diminutive half-dime was perhaps more likely to be scooped up into the palm of one’s hand, to make sure its held securely. Consequently, you get less finger pressure on the surface of the coin.

Grading
A nice-grade Seated Liberty half dime should show the following characteristics: most or all of “Liberty” showing on the shield, some hair and face detail showing on Miss Liberty, some drapery lines showing on Miss Liberty, horizontal and vertical lines intact on the obverse shield, detail on the reverse wreath. Of course, legends and date will be clear. If these characteristics are present, you probably have a Very Fine or better Seated Liberty half dime.

As I mentioned earlier, 1873 was not only the last year of the Seated Liberty half dime, but the last year of the half-dime, period. From 1874 on, the United States has only struck nickel five-cent coins. Today, half dimes are popular as examples of U.S. obselete coin denominations, kind of like two-cent and three-cent coins. The half-dime is different than such oddballs as two-cent and three-cent pieces, since the half-dime is a five-cent coin and we still use those today. But we don’t make them out of silver anymore and we don’t call them “half-dimes.”

Mints

 * Philadelphia Mint (no mintmark)
 * San Francisco Mint (S mintmark)
 * New Orleans Mint (O mintmark)