Draped Bust Half Dollars

The Small Eagle half dollars of 1796 and 1797 are among the rarest coins in the entire American series. The 1796 saw a mintage of just 3,918 pieces in both 15-star and 16-star obverse varieties, the star count reflecting Tennessee's admission to the Union that year. The 1797 is even rarer, with an unknown mintage that Breen estimated at a few thousand pieces at most, and perhaps fewer than 20 surviving examples. Finding either date in any condition is an event, and finding one in a grade where you can actually appreciate the design takes years of looking and a willingness to pay accordingly.

No half dollars were struck from 1798 through 1800, a three-year gap that separated the Small Eagle and Heraldic Eagle types. Production resumed in 1801 with the new reverse and continued through 1807. The Heraldic Eagle half dollars were struck in larger quantities, with annual mintages ranging from roughly 29,890 for 1802 up to over 839,000 for 1806. The 1806 is by far the most common date in the series, struck in enough quantity that collectors can actually find specimens without extraordinary effort. The intervening years, 1801 through 1805, produced between 30,000 and 211,000 pieces each, numbers that are modest but workable for collectors with patience.

The 1806 half dollar comes in an array of die varieties that has kept specialists busy for two centuries. Pointed 6 and Knob 6 varieties exist, with and without stems on the reverse wreath, in different star configurations, and with various other die characteristics that Overton catalogued in his standard reference. The 1806/5 overdate, where the 6 was punched over a 5, and the 6 over Inverted 6 variety are the most collected. The level of variety in the 1806 half dollars alone exceeds the total variety count for some entire denominations, which gives some idea of how many dies the Mint was burning through.

The series ended with the 1807 Draped Bust half dollar, which overlaps with the first Capped Bust half dollars of the same year. John Reich's new design took over midyear, and the Draped Bust was finished. The 1807 Draped Bust is available enough that type collectors can find one without too much trouble, making it the natural choice for anyone who wants a single representative example.

Fifty cents in the early 1800s was a substantial sum, equivalent to a full day's wages for many workers. A half dollar bought a week's supply of bread, several meals at a tavern, or a useful quantity of household goods. The denomination was important enough that the Mint devoted more effort to half dollar production than to almost any other coin, and the half dollar would eventually become the workhorse of American silver coinage, struck in larger quantities than the dollar and more consistently than the quarter. During the Draped Bust era, though, the half dollar was still finding its footing. Production was interrupted by gaps, mintages were inconsistent, and foreign silver, particularly the Spanish milled dollar and its fractions, remained dominant in American commerce. The Draped Bust half dollars that circulated did so alongside this foreign silver, contributing modestly to a money supply that the Mint could not yet control.

Sources: Q. David Bowers, A Guide Book of United States Coins: The Official Red Book (Whitman Publishing, 2015); Walter Breen, Walter Breen's Complete Encyclopedia of U.S. and Colonial Coins (Doubleday, 1988); Al Overton and Don Parsley, Early Half Dollar Die Varieties 1794-1836 (5th ed., 2014); R.S. Yeoman & Jeff Garrett, A Guide Book of United States Coins (Whitman Publishing, 2025); PCGS CoinFacts.