Capped Bust Half Dimes
The half dime vanished from American commerce after 1805 and did not return for twenty-four years. The most plausible explanation offered by numismatic scholars, including Breen, is that banks found…
Denomination
Half Dimes
5 articles
Bust (Original) Half Disme
The Constitution gave Congress the exclusive right to coin money, settling a question that had produced chaotic results under the Articles of Confederation. The conceptual architecture of the new…
Seated Liberty Half Dimes
Mint Director Robert M. Patterson, who took office in July 1835, moved quickly to improve the silver coinage. He found the Capped Bust design insufficiently dignified for a maturing republic and…
Draped Bust Half Dimes
The Flowing Hair design lasted barely a year on the dollar. For its replacement, by the traditional account, Mint Director Henry DeSaussure engaged Gilbert Stuart, the most celebrated portrait…
Flowing Hair Half Dimes
The 1792 half disme struck in John Harper's cellar had demonstrated that the new republic could produce silver coinage. What it had not established was a functioning Mint operating from its own…