1867

The 1867 Philadelphia half dime had a mintage of 8,000 coins, the lowest Philadelphia Seated Liberty half dime mintage in the entire series. Two years after the end of the Civil War, silver coinage still had not returned to normal circulation in the eastern United States. The Mint produced only 8,000 half dimes at Philadelphia, and nearly all of them went directly to collector sales and proof sets rather than to commerce.

The 1867 is one of the rarest regular-issue half dimes of the entire Seated Liberty series, comparable in rarity to the 1846 key date and the 1853-O No Arrows. Surviving examples are overwhelmingly in Uncirculated condition because the coins never circulated meaningfully. A true circulated 1867 half dime is actually rare; most collectors encounter only the Mint State survivors that were preserved from birth.

Pricing reflects the extreme scarcity. Uncirculated 1867 half dimes in gem quality command five-figure prices, and any example in any condition carries key-date status. The 1867-S had a much larger mintage (120,000 coins), continuing the Reconstruction-era pattern of San Francisco producing normal quantities while Philadelphia produced almost none.