1856

The 1856 half cent was produced in a mintage of 40,430 coins, a further decline from the 1854 and 1855 levels and one of the lowest circulation-strike outputs since the denomination returned from its proof-only hiatus in 1849. The Mint was making fewer half cents because fewer were needed. The denomination's days were numbered, though the formal discontinuation was still a year away.

The 1856 is a scarce coin in circulated grades. The low mintage translates directly into limited availability, and most surviving examples show the heavy wear of coins that spent years in active circulation. Finding an 1856 in Good to Very Good is a realistic goal; Fine is a solid find; Very Fine or better is uncommon enough to merit attention when encountered.

The coin was produced during the same year that the Kansas-Nebraska Act's consequences were erupting into violent confrontation in the Kansas Territory, "Bleeding Kansas," and the political crisis that would lead to the Civil War within five years was intensifying. The half cent, a relic of the early Republic's monetary system, was becoming an anachronism in a nation undergoing rapid economic and political transformation.

For a collector, the 1856 is one of the penultimate dates, a coin that signals the approaching end of the series. Combined with the 1857, it forms the final pair of circulation-strike half cents ever produced by the United States Mint. Both are scarce, both are collected with the awareness that the denomination was about to be discontinued forever.