1871

The 1871 half dollar is the sixth issue in the Type 5 With Motto subtype and the second year of the three-mint era for the denomination, with Philadelphia, San Francisco, and Carson City all delivering halves under the curved IN GOD WE TRUST scroll added in 1866. Philadelphia struck 1,203,600 business pieces, a meaningful jump from the 634,900 of 1870 and the strongest Philadelphia showing for a Seated half since the wartime 1861 production of 2.88 million. The 1871-CC sibling, cataloged on its own page, struck only 153,950 pieces and ranks among the major rarities of the series, while the 1871-S contributed 2,178,000 from the Pacific branch. Specie payments had been suspended since December 30, 1861 and would not be restored until the Specie Payment Resumption Act took effect on January 1, 1879, so a portion of the year's Philadelphia delivery still routed into Treasury vaults and bullion-settlement channels rather than ordinary commerce, but the larger mintage and the gradual postwar recovery meant more pieces reached general circulation than in the preceding low-output years.

Strike on the 1871 Philadelphia is generally crisp for the period, with the shield vertical lines, eagle's neck feathers, and most of the motto ribbon coming up sharp on early die states; recurring softness gathers on Liberty's upper hair strands, the lower edge of the motto scroll, and occasionally the central obverse stars as dies aged. The WB-101 "Crumbling Reverse Die" marriage cataloged by Wiley and Bugert shows progressive die-failure cracking through the legend on late states and is a documented specialist target for the date. Mint State survival is among the more accessible of the early-1870s Philadelphia run, with MS-62 to MS-64 examples obtainable with patience; anything above MS-64 becomes genuinely scarce, and gem coins are seldom offered. Circulated grades from Good through Extremely Fine are broadly available at standard With Motto pricing.

For the full design arc and the three-mint era that defines this year, see the Seated Liberty Half Dollar series history.