The American Half Dollar (1794 – 1891)

Images courtesy of Heritage Numismatic Auctions

As part of the early coinage of America, the Half Dollar was a widely used payment method; authorized by the mint Act of April 2, 1792. Half dollar history officially began in 1794, when the first Flowing Hair halves were struck. Issued for just two years, this design's obverse features the profile of Liberty with windswept hair. On the reverse, an eagle with wings raised stands within a wreath. The denomination appears on the edge, shown as FIFTY CENTS OR HALF A DOLLAR.

Varieties have been identified within the first year’s coinage. For example, in some of the earliest coins, Liberty’s lowest curl of hair ends at the second star on the left side of the coin’s obverse. The same curl on subsequent coins is touched by, or aligned with, the lowest star. A great example is available on line from Coin Facts. I also have set a link to PCGS's "Overton" Collection to get an example how large the variety consists of.

Images courtesy of Heritage Numismatic Auctions

1796 – 1807 Saw the introduction of the new rendition of Liberty, with her loose hair tied in a ribbon. The series' original reverse, from 1796-1797, bore a smaller eagle within a wreath. No halves were minted from 1798-1800. When the denomination returned in 1801, the reverse featured a new heraldic eagle design with 13 stars.

Courtesy of Heritage Numismatic Auctions

Partway through 1807, the Draped Bust series was replaced by U.S. Mint Engraver John Reich's Capped Bust design. This series shows Liberty donning a cloth cap on her head. The reverse once again displays a smaller eagle, with a shield. Until 1836, the edge featured the denomination, once again inscribed as FIFTY CENTS OR HALF A DOLLAR.

Courtesy of Heritage Numismatic Auctions

Half dollar history continued in 1839 with the debut of the Liberty Seated series. This handsome design features Liberty seated on a rock, her left hand holding a liberty cap on a pole, and her right hand resting on a shield inscribed LIBERTY. The reverse design depicts an eagle clutching an olive branch and arrows. Amid the religious fervor of the Civil War era, the motto IN GOD WE TRUST was added to the reverse in 1866, and continued through the end of the series in 1891.

As you’ll notice, we end our discussion of the Half Dollar at 1891; not that they were not minted anymore, it is just the Barber Half Dollar, followed by other varieties, lacked any appeal to the author.Half Dollar's allow you as a collector to grow with research into the varieties collecting business, and the resources available make it even easier to expand the collection. A warning, these "graded" varieties do not come cheaply to buyers and should be treated as an investment. Have fun and thanks for stopping by.

Clubs & Associations:

Society of U.S. Pattern Collectors
American Numismatic Association
American Numismatic Society
Coneca

Numismatic Bibliomania Society

Reference:

Littleton Coin Company 1309 Mt. Eustis Road, Littleton, NH 03561

American Large Cents (1793 - 1957)

American Large Cents (1793 - 1857)

United States Large Cents (1793 to 1857)  a large coin compared to the modern penny, there were several changes began with the first issued examples in 1793; were the first design, known as the 1793 "Chain" Cent, features a low-relief head of Liberty with fine, flowing locks of hair.  The reverse shows a chain of fifteen links, connected in a never-ending loop.

Reaction to the coins was quite negative: Liberty appeared to be in a fright and the chain was seen by many as representing bondage and slavery as opposed to strength and union.

As a result, Liberty's hair was strengthened and the chain was replaced with a wreath.  Known as the 1793 "Wreath" Cent, this design fared little better than its predecessor and was soon replaced.

The "Liberty Cap" design turned out to be a little more enduring.  Minted from 1794 to 1796, this design type is full of interesting varieties, many of them rare.  In 1795, the weight of the Large Cent was reduced and the edge lettering was replaced with a plain edge.  Some of the 1797 Large Cents have a curious "Gripped Edge."

In 1796, the "Draped Bust" design appeared.  This type was minted until 1807.  Rare dates in this type include the elusive 1799 and the popular 1804. The "Classic Head" Large Cent ran from 1808 to 1814.  Although none of the dates are rare, they are hard to find in nice condition.

The "Matron Head" design appeared in 1816 and lasted until 1839.  Scarce dates include 1821 and 1823.  Known as "Middle Dates", this series contains many interesting varieties that are of great interest to a large number of collectors.  Certain rare varieties can be worth hundreds or thousands of dollars.

The “varieties” spoken of have volumes of books dedicated to the differences; and as a collector that does a large amount of trading in Large Cents (1793 to 1822) I have acquired coins, determined the varieties and turned them for a lot more than the acquired cost. This is one of the passions in hunting for the rare coins and collecting.

Within the seven basic types, large cents are often collected by date. A complete date set is an easily obtainable goal within moderate budget constraints. Key dates include the 1793, 1799, and 1804. Of course, there are many different die pairings and Guidebook varieties. As a collection advances, various interesting varieties are often added; several different reverses found in 1796, over-dates (often dies were recycled by simply punching a new digit over a previous year's digit in the date) such as 1798/7 or 1807/6, and errors like the 1801 with the fraction on the reverse reading 1/000 instead of 1/100. Large cents are often attributed by Sheldon or Newcomb numbers; there are literally hundreds of these indicating different die pairings used throughout the years of production. Some years featured many different die varieties, some years used only one die pairing for the entire production. More advanced collectors frequently further expand their holdings by collecting large cents by Sheldon and/or Newcomb varieties. 

The most important organization for large cent collectors is the Early American Copper Society, www.eacs.org where members are invited to submit articles for publication and to comment, pro and con, on articles already published. The EAC Convention is held in early spring. Meeting sites are rotated throughout the United States, and another meeting is held in conjunction with the American Numismatic Association Convention in the summer. This is one of the best ways for new members to become familiar with early coppers and to meet others who share similar interests.

As with all collecting, you need to find out what interest's you the most and pursue it with all the vigor you can muster.

Thanks,

CJC

Links:

http://www.coinstudy.com/american-large-cent.html  

Civil War Tokens, Store Cards, Patriotic Tokens

CIVIL WAR TOKENS

When coins were withdrawn from circulation in the northern states during the Civil War, opportunists began minting private pennies that became de facto legal tender throughout the Union. The coinage of a few cents may seem like small change, but in 1863 alone, almost 9,000 different token designs, depicting everything from patriotic flags to beer barrels, were struck. Some so closely resembled real cents that the government banned private mints in 1864.

The Fuld store card book, which is a catalog of all Civil War tokens with a merchant’s name or initials on them, is organized by state, city, and then alphabetically by merchant within that city. It kind of encourages people to pick a place like Milwaukee and then try to get one token from every merchant in town. That’s how store card tokens tend to be collected.

Patriotic tokens, which have patriotic slogans and images on them, are in a separate catalog. In that book, there are photographs of each of the 537 dies that were used to strike the tokens. The Fulds listed all the obverse-reverse die combinations, and whether the metal struck was copper, brass, or what have you. People tend to collect patriotic s by trying to get them all, but since there are thousands of patriotic tokens, that’s not really very obtainable.

Most of all, it is expensive as the tokens can be as little as $5 on up into the thousands. Here in Michigan, Birmingham to be precise there is a coin store called Abbott's on Woodward. The store is now run by the original owner's sons of John Abbott. John loved the collecting of CWT's and pieced together the largest collection in the world, including the cowboy boot from Grand Rapids, worth in excessive of $300,000.

If your interested in finding more info on CWT's please use the attached link to the Civil War Society.

Always,

CJC

http://www.cwtsociety.com/



Ref:

Marks, Ben (2011, December 11) "During the Civil War, Some People Got Rich Quick by Minting Their own Money" Collectors Weekly; Received from URL: http://www.collectorsweekly.com/articles/during-the-civil-war-some-people-got-rich-quick-by-minting-their-own-money/

When a hobby grows into an obsession....

I remember when I started collecting things, as I was 21 years old and living in my new home in Saint Clair Shores. Unsatisfied with the new" furniture available in the marketplace; I sought vintage items from garage sales, estate sales, newspaper ads, etc. If it was pre-1920, I wanted it and usually got it.

However, my real collecting addiction came in my late twenties with the simple find of a bag of Indian Head Pennies, discovered in my garage during a remodeling adventure. I knew there were a couple of coin stores in the area, so I stopped by and bought a book on Indian Head Pennies to learn about my fortune. In total on a wholesale pricing, I received over $800 bucks for my efforts. That was it, I was hooked.

Collecting and "flipping" (buy and reselling) coins; now I know what your saying "coin collector - GEEK!" Not true, if you mentioned coin collecting to me in my younger years, you probably would of got a punch. What amazed me was the cash in collecting coins and flipping them; and if you got lucky, you found a rare variety, bought it for a cheap price and turned it for thousands. What is even best is when your seven year old decides to collect pocket watches, learns to repair them by nine years old and learns to resell them at a Flea Market in Royal Oak on Sundays at the age of twelve. Now at seventeen, he already knows where the coin stores are near and around CMU's campus, so he can eBay at college for spending cash.

So, this is my first post, I have lots to share and hopefully you can educate yourself's and give us your knowledge in return.

CJC

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