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Half Dollar Overview
Flowing Hair
Draped Bust
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Liberty Walking
Franklin
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1796 - 1807 Draped Bust Half Dollar
During the first few years, coin designs underwent rapid and often radical changes.
The U.S. Mint, still in its infancy, was sometimes overly sensitive to criticism
and often seemed to respond to critics in an effort to find just the right monetary
image for a new nation. After only two years of production, 1794 and 1795, the Mint
replaced the youthful "Flowing Hair" Liberty with a more mature and sedate Liberty
known as the "Draped Bust" type.
The number of stars increased from fifteen to sixteen during the 1796 production
year. Tennessee had been admitted to the Union as the 16th state. Oddly enough,
it then dropped back to fifteen in 1797. The evidence suggests that dies were prepared
in advance and then dated only as they were needed for coining.
Vital Stats.
Type 1 With Small Eagle Reverse (1796-1797)
- Designer: Obverse by Robert Scot, reverse by John Eckstein
- Content: 89.2% silver 10.8% copper
- Diameter: 32.5 millimeters
- Weight: 13.5 grams
- Edge: Lettered - FIFTY CENTS OR HALF A DOLLAR, ornaments between words vary
- Mint Mark Location: None all were minted in Philadelphia.
Type 1 Mintage
Year/
Mint Mark | Circulation
Strikes |
| 1796 | 3,918 |
| 1797 |
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Type 1 (1796-1797)
Draped Bust (Small Eagle)
Draped Bust half dollars (1796 and 1797) are the rarest circulation strike of any
U.S. silver coins. This is because most bullion depositors in the late 1790s wanted
silver dollars; half dollars were only minted upon the specific request of the depositor.
The mintage was quite low even for that period and few specimens were preserved as
keepsakes, and nearly all examples are circulated.
The most common "Draped Bust" half dollar is the 1797, but "common" is a relative
term, and by most standards, they are rare and quite expensive even in the lower
grades and more expensive as the grade increases.
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Vital Stats.
Type 2 With Large Eagle Reverse (1801-1807)
- Designer: Robert Scot
- Content: 89.2% silver 10.8% copper
- Diameter: 32.5 millimeters
- Weight: 13.5 grams
- Edge: Lettered - FIFTY CENTS OR HALF A DOLLAR, ornaments between words vary
- Mint Mark Location: None all were minted in Philadelphia.
Type 2 Mintage
Year/
Mint Mark | Circulation
Strikes |
| 1801 | 30,289 |
| 1802 | 29,890 |
| 1803 | 188,234 |
| 1805 | 211,722 |
| 1806 | 839,576 |
| 1807 | 301,076 |
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Type 2 (1801-1807)
Draped Bust (Large Eagle)
The Draped Bust Small Eagle half dollar type was minted for two years, and production
stopped. There was no half dollars minted from 1798 through 1800. When the series
resumed in 1801 the obverse remained essentially the same, but the reverse displayed
the Heraldic Eagle.
Draped Bust/Small eagle half dollars are extremely scarce in all grades and virtually
nonexistent in high mint state grades. Points to check for wear are the hair above
Liberty's forehead and the crest of the eagle's breast.
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There are many known varieties. The most commonly listed include:
- 1803 Large 3 and Small 3
- 1805/4; the first recorded use of an overdate on half dollar coinage
- 1806/5;
- 1806/9 (considered an inverted 6 rather than a 9)
- 1806 E/A (STATES over STATAS)
- 1806 No Stem, With Stem (no stem and with stem referring to the presence/ absence
of the end of the olive branch in the eagle's left claw)
- Large Stars, Small Stars
- Knob 6, and Point 6 (knob and point referring to the shape of the top extension of the digit 6)
Other varieties with differences in device, placement, size, etc. are also known.
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