1873 No Arrows, Open 3

The 1873 No Arrows, Open 3 half dollar belongs to a narrow transitional window inside one of the most consequential years in nineteenth-century U.S. coinage. Philadelphia opened the year striking halves at the 12.44-gram standard set by the Coinage Act of February 21, 1853, using a date logotype carried over from prior years in which the upper and lower arms of the 3 nearly touched. Complaints quickly reached Mint Director Henry Linderman that the figure read as an 8 at a glance, and Chief Engraver William Barber cut a new logotype with visible gaps in the arms, the Open 3. Production then shifted to the new punch and continued at the old weight until the Coinage Act of February 12, 1873 took effect on April 1, raising the half to 12.50 grams and adding the arrowheads that flank the date on later 1873 halves. The reported figure of 1,815,700 covers every 1873 Philadelphia variety combined, Closed 3 No Arrows, Open 3 No Arrows, and With Arrows, with the Open 3 No Arrows accounting for the bulk of the No Arrows portion, since Barber's revised logotype saw the longer service run.

The Open 3 attribution is read directly off the date: the upper and lower curves of the 3 end in clear, open hooks with a visible gap separating them, where the earlier Closed 3 punch shows the arms nearly meeting in a near-closed loop. Confirm the absence of arrowheads bracketing the date on both sides and verify the coin meets the 12.44-gram pre-Act standard rather than the 12.50-gram Arrows weight, a lightweight or heavyweight result is an immediate red flag. Strike on Philadelphia examples is generally well-defined for the period, though Liberty's hair detail above the ear and the eagle's leg feathers commonly show softness from late-state dies. Wiley and Bugert catalog the working die marriages without flagging any landmark variety premium. Survival is broad through Fine and Very Fine, thins through Extremely Fine, and becomes genuinely scarce in choice Mint State.

For the design's full arc and the subtype boundaries the Coinage Act of 1873 redrew, see the Seated Liberty Half Dollar series history. Updated 2026-03-09.