Overlooked and underappreciated during its time, not until recent years has America's smallest denomination coin, the half cent, received wider respect.
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The first half cent made its debut in 1793 with Joseph Wright's Liberty Cap design, top. This is a one-year type because the design changed the following year, with Liberty now looking right. Robert Scot's design, bottom, was used through 1797 before being replaced.
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After a two-year hiatus, the Mint began striking half cents again in 1800, using the new, Draped Bust design by engraver Robert Scot.
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A new design was forthcoming in 1809, when John Reich's Classic Head design was introduced. The half cent's necessity in commerce was noticeably absent, as none were struck from 1811 through 1824.
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A new design in 1840 could not save the half cent. Christian Gobrecht's Coronet type was introduced in 1840, but was struck only in Proof issues through 1848 before circulation coinage resumed in 1849. The half cent passed out of favor for good in 1857.
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For a variety of reasons, the small coin never circulated like its larger brother, the large cent. This lack of use fostered halting fits of production to meet an uneven demand, and during several gaps, the coin wasn't issued.
Nevertheless, five different half cent design types were struck for the denomination while it was issued, on and off, from 1793 through 1857.
A type set of the series offers an interesting opportunity for the collector with a penchant for early American coins.
Half cents, at .93 inch in diameter, are larger than today's cent.
All half cents were struck at the Philadelphia Mint and as such, have no Mint mark. According to the Coin World Comprehensive Catalog & Encyclopedia of United States Coins by David T. Alexander and Thomas K. DeLorey, the first cents and half cents were "thick and heavy with incuse-lettered edges."
A main reason the half-cent coin was authorized was so that merchants could make change for the Spanish silver real or bit, valued at 121/2 cents. Despite this intended convenience, "The half cent never achieved widespread popularity," according to the Alexander-DeLorey book. "The new federal copper coins joined a miscellany of foreign, state and private coppers already in circulation."
Lacking legal tender status also hindered their usage.
According to The U.S. Mint and Coinage by Don Taxay, the Mint Act of April 2, 1792, which created the Mint and established the system of U.S. coinage, including the half cent, did not make copper coins legal tender, so banks, shopkeepers and private individuals could refuse them if they chose to do so, and many did.
According to Walter Breen's Encyclopedia of Half Cents, 1793-1857, "Ever since 1793, this denomination has been something of a poor relative of the cent, in minting technique, in design, in half-hearted attempts at forced circulation, in small mintages and in smaller acceptance."
The first half-cent coin, the 1793 Liberty Cap half cent, was a one-year type.
The obverse depicts a bust of Liberty with flowing hair, facing left. A Liberty Cap on a pole rests on her right shoulder giving the design its name. The word liberty is above the bust and the date below.
The reverse displays the text united states of america surrounding a wreath of two leafy branches intertwined with lines of berries; the denomination half cent is in the center of the wreath. The fraction 1/200 appears below the wreath.
The coin bears a lettered edge stating two hundred for a dollar.
According to the second edition (1981) of American Half Cents: The "Little Half Sisters" by Roger S. Cohen Jr., the identity of the designer has been subject to debate through the years, but "the persons most frequently named are Joseph Wright and Adam Eckfeldt."
Joseph Wright was appointed the first engraver of the Mint in the summer of 1793, but he died in September 1793. According to Cohen, there is evidence that Wright "could have designed and cut one obverse and one reverse die, with Eckfeldt copying Wright's work in making additional dies.
The denomination immediately underwent a face-lift.
Half cents struck between 1794 and 1797 bear another Liberty Cap design, with Liberty facing right rather than left, and the Liberty Cap resting on a pole held over Liberty's left shoulder. This design type was issued in Plain Edge, Lettered Edge and other edge varieties, though not in all years.
This design is attributed to Robert Scot, who served as engraver of the Mint. The reverse design is similar to that used in 1793. Modifications to the reverse include replacement of the lines of berries with single berries, and the use of single ribbon bow rather than a double bow.
Two distinct edges, Plain or Lettered, were used on half cent issued in 1795, Douglas Winter writes in the introduction to United States Half Cents, 1793-1857 by Q. David Bowers and James E. Ruddy.
Many early half cents are plagued by a peculiarity of production: according to Breen, "planchets for them were, in several different years, cut from copper tokens or misstruck cents, therefore varying considerably in weight, texture and durability."
Breen cites records kept by Henry Voight and Eckfeldt at the Philadelphia Mint when making this claim, which Taxay reconfirms, noting that certain British tokens were used on several occasions, including Talbot, Allum & Lee tokens.
A copper shortage in the Mint's early years led it to accept the metal in just about any form, including nails, utensils and scrap, according to Paul Andersen, in Half Cents, 1793-1857.
An order of ready-made planchets in 1797 from the English private mint Boulton & Watt, Andersen said, solved the problem.
No half cents were struck in 1798 or 1799, though, the first of several gaps in production.
When production resumed in 1800, a new obverse design called the Draped Bust was introduced and used through 1808 (none were issued in 1801).
Gilbert Stuart and Scot designed the obverse; the reverse design is credited to Scot and John Gardner.
All Draped Bust half cents bear plain edges.
The weight of the half cent, which had been 6.74 grams to this point, was reduced to 5.44 grams.
The Classic Head design was introduced in 1809, and used through 1836. John Reich is credited as the designer of both the obverse and the reverse for the Classic Head type.
The obverse features a head of Liberty wearing a headband with the word liberty, and seven stars to the left of the bust, six to the right.
The reverse continues the theme used on previous half cents: a wreath encompassing the denomination half cent, the fraction 1/200 below, and united states of america surrounding the wreath.
The denomination in the Classic Head design was also sporadically issued.
None were struck from 1812 through 1824. Researchers have often attributed the hiatus to the unpopularity of the coin, which had reached the point that banks had started refusing to accept them about 1811, according to several writers. But various researchers also note that the War of 1812 hindered receipt of copper planchets once the Mint had exhausted its supply.
The U.S. Mint stopped making half cents again in 1827, 1830 and 1837 to 1839, before a new design was introduced in 1840. Christian Gobrecht's Coronet design was struck until 1857.
All Coronet half cents have a wreath on the reverse with the text united states of america surrounding the wreath and the words half cent within the wreath. All have a plain edge.
Cohen describes Gobrecht's Coronet cent obverse design, on which the half cent design is based, as "the Mature Head" version (on the Coronet cent of 1816 to 1857, the basic Coronet design underwent multiple revisions).
It features a bust of Liberty wearing a coronet with the word liberty on it. Her hair is drawn up in back, curls flowing down her neck.
The 1840s marked a rocky period for the half cent, as more people demanded eliminating the heavy coinage, and copper prices rose, eating the Mint's profits.
With little demand for half cents, the Mint did not strike any for circulation from 1840 to 1848.
According to Winter, those issues exist only as Proof coins, and they represent "one of the most confusing and challenging groups of coins in American numismatics."
Original, Proof examples of these coins were struck for inclusion in sets provided to dignitaries and domestic VIPs, Winter wrote.
Restrikes of the 1840 to 1848 and 1852 half cents were created in the late 1850s when, Winter said, the Mint was "all but too happy to furnish collectors with restrikes of rarities which were otherwise unobtainable."
Demand for the coin in circulation continued to dwindle, and half cent coinage was finally discontinued in February 1857.
The small denomination had a relatively long life but with limited usefulness, it quickly disappeared from circulation.
Only in recent years, Winter wrote, have the coins begun to be appreciated "for the legitimately interesting and distinctive coins they are."
