HALF THE DOLLARS OF 1794-1797
In August 1786, when the Confederation government finally got around to considering a mint and coinage, the legislators decided that a silver half dollar should be one of the coins struck by the new country. This ambitious plan, however, did not succeed because the authorities did not have the money to begin operations or even to erect a mint building.
The half dollar was important due to the fact that the proposed table of coinage was based on the Spanish system. The latter had a piece of 8 reales in silver, generally referred to as a dollar in the United States. The 4 reales was thus equivalent to 50 cents in the new scheme of things and, as such, was to be a very important coin in the early economy of this country.
Alexander Hamilton’s famous January 1791 report to Congress on the establishment of a mint would lead directly to the new American monetary system but, oddly enough, Hamilton did not suggest a half dollar. In fact he recommended only two silver coins: the dime and the dollar. When the final mint law was enacted by Congress in late March 1792, however, the half dollar was included and has been with us ever since.
It is one thing to pass a law and quite another to put it into effect, especially one of this magnitude. During the rest of 1792, the first Mint director, David Rittenhouse, was to spend most of his time worrying about matters outside the realm of actual coinage. Buildings had to be erected, machinery obtained and key workmen employed. All of these things required time, and the only coinage actually executed in 1792 was about 2,000 half dismes.
Another impediment to coinage, not well thought out when the original law was passed, was the question of surety bonds for those handling the precious metals. In particular, the chief coiner and assayer were each supposed to be bonded for $10,000, an enormous sum for the time. In an age where sureties were personal, this kind of money was very difficult to find. Mint Director Rittenhouse now appealed to Secretary of State Thomas Jefferson, the cabinet officer responsible for the Mint, to ask that Congress lower the bonds. In March 1794, Congress agreed to this request and more suitable levels were found. The bond of $5,000 for Chief Coiner Henry Voight was soon raised and the lesser bond for Assayer Albion Cox was also obtained. Although it was originally intended to begin the 1794 silver coinage with the half dime, later on it was decided to start with the dollar instead. This was done for reasons of prestige, as in those days the mon
etary affairs of nations were often judged by the quality of their coinage, especially the largest silver piece.
The coinage of dollars duly commenced in mid-October 1794, but less than 2,000 pieces had been struck when it was decided to stop coining this denomination. The only press on hand was not powerful enough to bring up the design completely. Many of the pieces thus appeared to be softly struck, hardly an auspicious beginning for the silver coinage. (The dies for this first dollar coinage were prepared by Chief Engraver Robert Scot, who had been in office only since November 1793.)
Once the dollar coinage was halted, it was necessary to concentrate on one of the other silver denominations as the depositors had a right to receive their bullion in coin form as soon as possible. Rittenhouse opted for the half dollar for two reasons: first, it was closest in size to the dollar, and second, there was a shortage of Spanish 4-reale pieces in the domestic marketplace. By late November, all was in readiness for a resumption of the silver coinage, but this time in half dollars.
With at least two pairs of half dollar dies on hand, coinage commenced at the end of November 1794. Dec. 1 saw the first such coinage being delivered, some 5,300 pieces. Then came fresh problems.
Exactly what went wrong at this point is not clear, but it is likely that some key piece of machinery broke and was difficult to repair within a short time. In frustration, Rittenhouse ordered the resumption of copper cent coinage, which apparently did not use this particular equipment.
The broken machinery required some weeks to repair and it was not until late December 1794 that all was in readiness once more. This time, coinage went much more smoothly, with 18,000 half dollars being delivered in mid-January 1795. Admittedly, this was not all that many coins, but it took time for the chief coiner and his workers to learn how to prepare the necessary planchets in an efficient manner. Unlike copper, the silver coins had to be checked carefully for weight, and this slowed matters down until a proper routine was established.
Voight had apparently expected to coin a considerable number of half dollars in late 1794, and for this reason Engraver Scot had prepared at least six sets of dies in all. The early Mint rarely wasted dies just because they were out of date, so the January 1795 coinage consisted primarily of 1794-dated half dollars. When the first 1795 obverse was used is not known, but may not have been until sometime in February.
The half dollars struck through 1807 in the United States do not bear a mark of value on the faces, although the edge has the wording, “FIFTY CENTS OR HALF A DOLLAR.” This lack of an obvious value was due to an argument in 1791-1792 over the form the coinage was to take. Some people, including Treasury Secretary Hamilton, favored the British system whereby no denomination appeared on the coin and the pieces were struck in medal turn; the latter meant that coins were rotated side-to-side to see the reverse side in proper orientation.
On the other hand, Secretary of State Jefferson, who had been delegated by President Washington to oversee the Mint, favored the French system of denominations and coin turn. The latter is currently used on U.S. coins.
The result was a compromise of sorts in which the new coins used the coin turn
favored in France but without a formal denomination on the faces. For the dollar and half dollar, of course, the edge lettering gave the value. Very few people, then or now, look at the edges of coins, however.
The first half dollars were released to circulation soon after striking but the Mint kept one important matter from the public: all silver coinage in the United States made through October 1795 was struck on an illegal standard. Even the president and secretary of state were not informed of this curious decision.
In the summer of 1794, Assayer Albion Cox had approached Director Rittenhouse with the odd claim that silver coins struck from an alloy less than 900/1,000 fine would turn black in circulation. The law of 1792 mandated a fineness of .8924+. In a decision that defies logic, Rittenhouse accepted this bizarre claim and ordered that coinage begin on a standard of 900/1,000 rather than the alloy required by law. The order was made a virtual State Secret, with only key officers at the Mint being told of the decision.
In an odd sense, the new fineness was not exactly illegal under the law. There were severe penalties for debasing the coinage, but apparently no one had considered that coins might be deliberately enriched by the Mint.
To keep the matter secret, Rittenhouse also ordered that the gross weight of the coins not be changed, so that the half dollar of 208 grains (13.48 grams) remained the same. The net result, however, was that depositors were effectively cheated out of about 1 percent of their bullion deposits.
One such depositor, John Vaughan, learned in late 1795 that he had been thus defrauded of more than $2,000. It required several years, and a special Congressional authorization, for him to recover the money.
With the passage of time, the coining department became more proficient at its job and half dollars were struck in increasing numbers during March and April 1795. However, in early May 1795, a special press for dollar coinage was completed and the striking of half dollars was then phased out. The last delivery of this denomination in 1795 was made in June.
At the present time, half dollars dated 1794 and 1795 are especially popular with collectors and bring good prices. It has been estimated that perhaps 250 to 300 half dollars still exist dated 1794, out of an original issue of about 23,000 pieces. According to the price guide that appears in Numismatic News, the value in F-12, a good grade of preservation for these early pieces, is nearly $11,000, while an XF-40 specimen carries a weighty tab of $30,000. The 1794s are not always well struck, and this must be taken into consideration when the coin is graded.
For 1795, with an original mintage just short of 300,000, the situation is a little better for the collector. In F-12, the estimated value for the most common variety is a much more reasonable $2,150, with an XF-40 piece carrying a price tag of about $9,000. The disparity in the 1795 prices is due to type collectors wanting the best possible coin for their sets. Some varieties of the 1795 half dollar, especially that with three leaves below the eagle’s wings, bring considerably higher prices from specialists.
We also find 1795 half dollars with mispunched lettering. In one case, for example, the letter “A” in “STATES” on the reverse was punched over an incorrect letter “E.”
One variety of the 1795 half dollar has a smaller head than the others. It is sometimes ascribed to the assistant engraver, John Smith Gardner, but it is unlikely. This Liberty head was probably the work of the chief engraver, Robert Scot.
In June 1795, Director David Rittenhouse resigned and was replaced by
Henry William DeSaussure. It is sometimes said, without any particular proof, that DeSaussure was responsible for the new Draped Bust design, which first appeared in early October 1795. It is more likely, however, that President Washington was directly involved. It is believed, based on family tradition, that artist Gilbert Stuart sketched this new artwork.
In late October 1795, DeSaussure in turn resigned and was replaced by a former congressman, Elias Boudinot. The new director, a stickler for the law, was surprised to discover the illegal silver standard then in use and ordered that the law be adhered to, at once. This caused a disruption of Mint affairs until all could be brought back to normal. Then the assayer suddenly died from a massive stroke, creating new delays.
Although it is not clear if a resumption of half dollar coinage was planned in 1796, at least two obverse dies carrying the new Draped Bust head of Liberty were executed by Engraver Robert Scot at some point prior to June 1796 because they carry only 15 stars, and Tennessee was admitted in that month as the 16th state. Whatever the course of events, there was no half dollar coinage in 1796 despite the availability of dies.
The public uproar over the illegal standard created a situation not very favorable to the Mint. Merchants and bankers were reluctant to bring their silver and gold bullion to the Mint for fear that the illegal standard might suddenly reappear with some new director in charge. As a result, the deposits in 1796, as compared to 1795, were poor at best and Director Boudinot was hard-pressed to keep the presses operating with gold and silver.
With the early part of 1797 even worse than 1796, Boudinot came up with the idea of a “make-work” coinage. Instead of concentrating on the dollar, he now ordered that the largest silver denomination receive the least emphasis. Smaller coins take more labor and time with the same amount of bullion, and thus the Mint workers could be kept on the job in times of low bullion deposits.
On Feb. 28, 1797, the coiner delivered a mere 60 half dollars, the first such coinage of this denomination since June 1795. These presumably were dated 1796. This delivery was followed by 874 pieces on March 21, while a further 2,984 were struck on May 26. This meant that 3,918 half dollars were coined in 1797, using dies of both 1796 and 1797.
For some odd reason, one of the 1796 obverse dies had been made after Tennessee became a state, and thus carried 16 stars on the obverse. On the other hand, the lone 1797 die has only 15 stars, indicating that it was prepared earlier than the second 1796 die. There is little rhyme or reason to this order of usage, and perhaps there was just simple confusion in 1796 and 1797 when the dies were given their dates.
Some years ago, Al Overton, author of the standard reference on early half dollars, estimated that the original mintage in 1797 consisted of the following: 1796 with 15 stars: 1,400 pieces; 1796 with 16 stars: 900; and the remainder (1,600 specimens) dated 1797. Whether this is correct is uncertain, and will remain so, but at least provides a rough framework.
All three coins are so rare that the book value in F-12 is about $50,000 for each, a strong price by any standard. At least one of these two dates is normally considered a must for a complete half dollar type collection, thus driving up the price. Based on Overton’s views, the rarest is perhaps the 1796 with 16 stars, but this is not reflected in value guides due to pressure from type and date collectors.
The 1796-1797 issues are interesting in that they not only have a new obverse, but the reverse is altered slightly by the addition of the fraction ‘“1/2” to represent the value. This novel idea was not repeated, however, when coinage of the half dollar resumed in 1801.