Capped Bust Half Dimes, 1829-1837
The half dime today is something of an orphan to the eyes of a modern collector. There are specialists in the series but nothing like those for the silver dollar and cent. Yet, half dimes are deserving of more attention, if for no other reason than the history behind them. Alexander Hamilton, in his famous report on the establishment of a mint (presented to Congress in January 1791), recommended the coinage of half dismes; the official spelling was later (1830s) changed to half dime. He felt that small silver coins were of the most use to the general public, rather than the large coins of silver or gold. In those days, a skilled laborer might earn a dollar per day or a bit more, and money was spent with great care. Congress agreed with Hamilton on this point, and the new mint law of April 1792 included the half disme in the list of coins. In July 1792, at the makeshift mint in the cellar of a building at Sixth and Cherry Streets in Philadelphia, Director David Rittenhouse and Chief Coiner Henry Voight oversaw the striking of about 1,700 half dismes, the first regular coinage of the new government. (A few-hundred more were struck later in the year.) President Washington thought so highly of this hesitant beginning that he mentioned the coinage in his annual report to Congress in early November 1792. The president indicated that the lack of small silver change in circulation called attention to the problem, and he had decided to start coinage with the half disme. Although there had been a small start in the silver coinage in 1792, none were again struck until 1795 because of a problem of bonds for certain key officers of the Mint. When the problem was solved in early 1794, preparations for a full- scale silver coinage could go forward. It was decided to concentrate on the dollar, for the simple reason that this was the coin wanted by prospective depositors. They did not want the half dime.
The half dime was then struck from February 1795 to 1805 (some of the 1795 coinage used obverse dies dated 1794) but only in small quantities as the Mint had trouble persuading depositors to take this coin in exchange for their silver bullion. The latter had more use for dollars and half dollars because much of the new silver coinage was meant as backing for paper currency issued by the largest banks in the country.
The half dime had a formidable rival in the Spanish silver half-real coin, which was worth 6-1/4 cents in United States money. (The United States dollar was equivalent to the eight-reales Spanish coin.) The colonists had long been accustomed to using Spanish coins for their everyday commercial affairs and many of the goods were priced in that system. Those who do research on the early American marketplace will find that 6-1/4 cent prices did not die out in this country until the late 1850s, when Spanish silver finally went out of use. In October 1805, the Mint stopped striking the half dime since it was virtually impossible to persuade depositors to accept them. There had been no coinage of this value in 1804, and the 15,600 produced in 1805 were something of a last gasp. They probably lasted for several years while the Mint gradually put them out through the banking system. From 1806 to 1828, there was no coinage of half dimes but there were occasional calls for a resumption of coinage. In March 1821, a Mint official notified a bank officer that half dimes would be coined in a few months, but the idea was dropped for unknown reasons.
The supply of Spanish half reales was sufficient for most purposes in the 1820s, and the banks had little call for half dimes from merchants or citizens. Beginning in the late 1820s, however, the supply of small Spanish silver had begun to slacken, forcing increased coinage and use of small American silver coins, especially the dime. Mint Director Samuel Moore ordered William Kneass, in the late spring of 1829, to execute the necessary dies for a
resumption of half dime coinage. Moore chose the familiar Capped Bust head of Liberty, originally engraved by John Reich for the half dollar in the fall of 1807. It was not a design of beauty but had an enduring classical look and was thus acceptable to the Treasury officials in Washington, who would have been consulted on the matter.
There was a rumor current in the 1850s at the Philadelphia Mint that Reich had used his “fat mistress” for the head of Liberty, but it is unlikely that this was true. The director in 1807, Robert Patterson, certainly dictated the general style of the Liberty head and Reich would have been very careful in his choice of models. The 1829 half dimes are a radical departure from those of 1805. Not only is the design completely different, as might have been expected, but the method of striking is new. Now the coins were struck in a close collar (as is done even today) which imparts the reeding on the edge just as the piece is struck. Prior to 1806, the edge of the planchet received its reeding in a separate operation and then was struck in an open collar, which did not crush the edge reeding.
The first delivery of the new coins came on July 4, 1829, a date certainly chosen not only for its historical connotations but to coincide with the laying of the cornerstone of a new Mint building. The 1.2 million pieces coined during that first partial year, July through December, of coinage proved quite popular as coinage the following year was almost identical. Half dimes of 1829 are interesting in that the reverse had the denomination (“5 C.”) for the first time since 1792. Those of 1794 through 1805 bore no mark of value and may well have been confusing to the citizen who had never seen a half dime before. Walter Breen, in his encyclopedia of United States coinage, notes that there is a special reverse for 1829 that was not used in later years. Some of the reverse dies had an eagle with three vertical stripes in each bar on the shield. The variety with three stripes is not rare as at least three reverse dies were used for the coinage.
Later in the year, an eagle with two vertical stripes on the shield was introduced and this became standard through 1837, when the design was abandoned in favor of the Seated Liberty work by Gobrecht. It is believed that the three- stripe reverse was dropped because the lines were more likely to crumble in the die than on a simpler design with two lines.
The Numismatic News price guide reports that 1829 half dimes are worth $600 in MS-60, but gem uncirculated specimens (MS-65) are valued at $3,000, clear testimony that such pieces are hard to come by. Most Capped Bust half dimes are found in the lower grades, not upper. Even in VF-20, the 1829 is valued at $175.
It is interesting to note that the reverse motto in Latin, “E Pluribus Unum,” is on the coin by mere luck. Mint Director Samuel Moore, at just about this time, decided that the motto was an unnecessary ornament on the coinage and should be removed.
When the quarter dollar dies were revised in 1831, Moore seized the opportunity to remove the motto from the reverse. Had the same views held forth at the beginning of 1829, it is almost certain that the half dime would have been shorn of the motto as well. (The motto, “E PLURIBUS UNUM” was discarded in 1831 because Moore thought that it merely duplicated “UNITED STATES OF AMERICA” in the Latin language. He felt that it was necessary to be said only once on a coin.)
Only in one year, 1832, did the Bust half dime coinage fall below a million pieces. However, even then this does not tell the true rarity as it is known that some of the 1832 obverse dies were possibly used in later years. With similar mintages throughout the series, there is no one coin that can be chosen as the key date necessary for all collections.
Mintage statistics for the Capped Bust series of 1829-1837 are known on a yearto-year basis but recent investigations by specialists have shown that old obverses
were used indiscriminately in the early to mid-1830s for coinage.
Most collectors who obtain a Capped Bust half dime do so for their type sets. For this reason, the values in MS-60 and MS-65 of virtually every coin in this series, with the exception of the 1837 small 5 C, are roughly the same.
Although the values are about the same, there are nonetheless some interesting varieties and die blunders in the series. One of the 1834 obverses has the curious error of having the figure “3” first punched upside-down and then corrected. This carries a premium over normal issues for the same date. The error also appears on a coin dated 1836. Several of the coins have varieties in which the date is either large or small. It is believed that some of the dies were being finished in the chief coiner’s department, who may have had only one set of date elements for the half dime while the engraver, Kneass, had the other. Proof coins exist of all dates but are not plentiful for any of them. The Norweb I sale by Bowers and Merena (October 1987) had only one proof, of 1834, and it brought about $7,000. Proofs are not often seen of this design and are eagerly sought by type collectors wanting the best possible specimens.
Several proof half dimes, perhaps as many as 20 according to one source, are known for 1829. The cornerstone of the new (second) Philadelphia Mint was laid on July 4 of that year, the same day as the first half dime coinage since 1805. The timing is probably not a coincidence, and it is likely that the proof coins were made for distribution to VIPs in commemoration of the event. Adam Eckfeldt, chief coiner in 1829, had been an employee of the Mint from the mid-1790s and was aware of the special character of the 1792 half dismes. There can be little doubt that the symbolism was deliberate. The July 4 coinage and cornerstone laying thus commemorated President George Washington’s well-known interest in the coinage from 37 years before. Early Mint officials had a great interest in the Washington association with the Mint and made it a point to use dates of significance whenever possible. In 1836, for example, Washington’s birthday was chosen as the date for the first steam coinage. It is interesting to note that when the second mint was ready for occupancy in 1833, the director did not strike proof half dimes in commemoration. Instead, the half cent seems to have been chosen, judging by the number of them around. The beginning of the end for the Capped Bust half dime came in 1835 when Dr. Robert M. Patterson became director. He disliked the old artwork from 1807 and wanted something that would put America into the modern age of coin design. To this end he set Thomas Sully, a famed painter, and Titian Peale, a naturalist and painter, to work creating the famed Seated Liberty dollar with Flying Eagle reverse. The dies for the new dollars of 1836 were, of course, by Christian Gobrecht.
Patterson was so taken by the new Seated design that he suggested to the Treasury in early 1837 that dimes and half dimes be similarly honored. Permission came through in short order, and Patterson ordered Gobrecht to produce the necessary dies. The last Capped Bust half dime was struck in June 1837, and the first of the new pieces came the following month. It is not generally realized, but the half dimes of 1837 are a distinct sub-variety necessary for the complete type collection. The original mint law of April 1792 had specified a silver fineness of .8924+ in the coinage, but in January 1837 this was changed by Congress, at the request of Mint Director Patterson, to the more modern .900. All of the 1837 Capped Bust half dimes have a fineness of .900, the slight increase in fineness being matched by an equally slight decrease in weight.
The public was so taken with the new design that the old was quickly forgotten. Perhaps at some future time collectors will again find the true charm that these little coins command.