The Draped Bust half dollar
Struck in only a handful of years, with a long gap between 1797 and 1801. The 1796 and 1797 issues are among the great rarities of American coinage.
| Years | Alloy | Weight | Silver | At spot |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1796-1807 | 89.24% silver | 13.48 g | 0.3868 ozt | $26.35 |
The design
Designed by Robert Scot. The obverse shows Liberty in a draped bust facing right; the reverse shows a small eagle to 1797, then the heraldic eagle. The coin measures 32.5mm across.
Finding the mint mark
None. Philadelphia was the only mint.
Mint marks matter more than most people expect: the same date from a different mint can be a common coin or a scarce one. What each letter means.
Dates in this series
This series predates the 1892 start of our date-by-date pages. Early half dollars are collected as rarities rather than as silver, and a melt figure is rarely the right way to think about a coin worth several hundred dollars or more. Why the date pages start where they do.