1867

The 1867 half dollar is the second issue in the Type 5 With Motto subtype and arrived in the second full year of Reconstruction, still inside the long shadow of the specie suspension that began on December 30, 1861. Philadelphia delivered 449,300 business strikes alongside a separate proof run of 625 pieces, a combined output that placed the year well below the prewar baselines of the late 1850s and only a modest step up from the wartime trough. The economic backdrop was unchanged from the closing months of 1866: greenbacks and fractional currency carried daily commerce, hard silver remained at a premium against paper, and Treasury vaults, bullion settlement, and private hoards absorbed most of the year's delivery before it could reach a merchant's till. Export to the Caribbean and Latin America claimed additional pieces. Surviving circulation use of 1867 halves in the year of issue was thin, and the full resumption of silver in everyday pockets would not arrive until the legislative groundwork of 1875 and the practical normalization of the late 1870s.

Strike quality on 1867 Philadelphia pieces is generally above average for the series, with the obverse stars, shield vertical lines, and eagle's neck feathers usually well brought up; the recurring softness gathers on the new motto ribbon above the eagle and on Liberty's upper hair strands, with the lower scroll edge and the letters of TRUST sometimes rendered lightly even on otherwise sharp coins. Authentication rests on a 12.44-gram weight under the Coinage Act of February 21, 1853, a 30.6-millimeter diameter, a reeded edge, and the curved scroll bearing IN GOD WE TRUST that separates Type 5 production from the No Motto coinage that closed in 1865. Grade-wise, survivors are broadly distributed across circulated grades from Good through Extremely Fine, with About Uncirculated coins available but no longer common, and Mint State examples meaningfully scarcer than the mintage suggests because so much of the year's delivery either sat in vaults or was eventually melted in the silver-price episodes of later decades.

For the full historical context, see the Seated Liberty Half Dollar series history.