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SEATED LIBERTY HALF DOLLARS (1839-1891)

1839 Half Dollar Seated

Christian Gobrecht designed the Seated Liberty half dollar. The obverse of the Seated Liberty half dollar depicts Liberty seated looking over her shoulder to the left. She balances the Union Shield inscribed LIBERTY with her right hand and holds a staff on which is placed a Phrygian cap in her left. There are seven stars to the left and six to the right interrupted by her head and the capped pole. The dated is below. The reverse shows the heraldic eagle looking left. It is surrounded by the required inscription and the denomination written as HALF DOL. below. Dentils are around the periphery of both sides of the Seated Liberty half dollar.

There were five varieties of the Seated Liberty half dollar. Type 1, 1839-1853 and 1856-1866 (resumed with weight standard of Type 2) has no motto above the eagle. It weighed 13.36 grams. Type 2, 1853, added rays around the eagle to indicate the change in weight to 12.44 grams. Type 3, 1854-1855, had the rays removed but arrows added to each side of the date. The weight remained the same. Type 4, 1866-1873 and 1875-1891 (resumed with weight standard of Type 5) had the motto IN GOD WE TRUST added to a banner above the eagle. The arrows at the date were removed. Type 5, 1873-1874, had the arrows at the date added back to show the change in weight to 12.50 grams.

There were also several varieties of the Seated Liberty half dollar. In 1839 the drapery was modified to cover more of Liberty’s left arm. The varieties are No Drapery and Drapery. Both Small and Medium letters are found for the 1840 issue. The next Red Book variety was made in 1842. There were Small Date and Small Letters and Small Date with Large Letters. The New Orleans Mint for that year made a Small Date with Small Letters also and a Medium date with Large letters. A doubled date is found in 1844-O. Excessive die polishing caused the 1845-O to have Drapery and No Drapery. The Philadelphia issues of 1846 had a Medium Date, a Tall Date, and a 6 over a Horizontal 6. Medium and Tall dates are found for 1846-O, and 1847 has a 7 over 6 overdate. A very rare 1853-O Type 1 (no arrows) exists. Only 3 specimens are known. An overdate was made in 1855 that shows the numerals 854 under the normal date. In 1861 the New Orleans Mint used a federal die obverse and a CSA reverse to strike a few CSA half dollars. This same obverse die was also paired with a regular federal reverse to strike some 1861-O half dollars. They can be identified by a die crack that runs from to the right of the sixth star down to Liberty’s nose and shoulder. Both the No Motto and With Motto coins were made in San Francisco in 1866. The new dies that had the With Motto reverse did not arrive in time so an older die was used in the first group of coins struck for that year. Close and Open 3’s were found in 1873. Carson City and San Francisco made both Type 4 and 5 coins for that year. Another overdate was made in 1877 with a 7 seen over a 6. Just the top portion of the 6 is visible over the upper part of the last 7.
Mintages of the Seated Liberty half dollar range from a low of 4,400 in both 1882 and 1884 to a high of 8,418,000 in 1876. Mint records show a No Arrows half dollar for 1873-S with a mintage of 5,000; however, none are known to exist today.

Specifications:
Weight: 13.36 (1839-1853), 12.44 (1853), 12.50 (1873-1891)
Composition: .900 silver, .100 copper
Diameter: 30.6 millimeters
Edge: Reeded

CLICK HERE TO VIEW INVENTORY OF HALF DOLLARS

NO MOTTO ON REVERSE (1839-1866)
DATE MINTAGE FOR CIRCULATION MINTAGE OF PROOFS NOTES
1839 1,972,400 est. 5 The variety without drapery at Liberty's elbow is worth 2-10 times the variety with drapery.
1840 1,435,008 est. 10 One interesting variety was struck at the New Orleans Mint using a reverse of 1838 without a mintmark!
1840-O 855,100 0  
1841 310,000 est. 10  
1841-O 401,000 0  
1842 2,012,764 est. 5 The date comes in small and medium versions and the reverse comes with small and large letters.
1842-O 957,000 0 These come with Small Date and Small Letters (Reverse of 1839) or Medium Date and Large Letters (Reverse of 1842).
1843 3,844,000 est. 10  
1843-O 2,268,000 0  
1844 1,766,000 est. 5  
1844-O 2,005,000 0 The double date variety has the original date cut way too high into the die.
1845 589,000 est. 5  
1845-O 2,094,000 0 One scarce variety is lacks the drapery at Liberty's elbow because of over-zealous polishing of the die.
1846 2,210,000 est. 20 Look for the rare 1846/5 overdate. Date sizes vary and one interesting variety had the 6 of the date punched into the die horizontally, then corrected.
1846-O 2,304,000 0 Date sizes vary; the "Tall" date is the tougher one.
1847 1,156,000 est. 20 Look for the very rare 1847/6 overdate.
1847-O 2,584,000 0  
1848 580,000 est. 5  
1848-O 3,180,000 0  
1849 1,252,000 est. 10  
1849-O 2,310,000 0  
1850 227,000 est. 5  
1850-O 2,456,000 0  
1851 200,750 est. 5  
1851-O 402,000 0  
1852 77,130 est. 10  
1852-O 144,000 est. 5  
1853-O est. 5 0 None were reported to have been minted!

ARROWHEADS AT DATE, RAYS ON REVERSE (1853 ONLY)

DATE MINTAGE FOR CIRCULATION MINTAGE OF PROOFS NOTES
1853 3,532,708 est. 10  
1853-O 1,328,000 0  

ARROWHEADS AT DATE, NO RAYS ON REVERSE (1854-1855)

 

DATE MINTAGE FOR CIRCULATION MINTAGE OF PROOFS NOTES
1854 2,982,000 est. 30  
1854-O 5,240,000 0  
1855 759,500 est. 15 Look for the rare 1855/1854 overdate.
1855-O 3,688,000 0  
1855-S 129,950 0  

ORIGINAL DESIGN RESTORED (1856-1866)

DATE MINTAGE FOR CIRCULATION MINTAGE OF PROOFS NOTES
1856 938,000 est. 30  
1856-O 2,658,000 0  
1856-S 211,000 0  
1857 1,988,000 est. 75  
1857-O 818,000 0  
1857-S 158,000 0  
1858 4,226,000 est. 200  
1858-O 7,294,000 0  
1858-S 476,000 0  
1859 747,200 800  
1859-O 2,834,000 0  
1859-S 566,000 0  
1860 302,700 1,000  
1860-O 1,290,000 0  
1860-S 472,000 0  
1861 2,887,400 1,000 1861 Confederate States of America Half Dollar
1861-O 2,532,633 est. 5 Some of these were struck under the auspices of the Confederacy using U.S. dies - unfortunately, there's no way to tell them apart. The extremely rare Confederate Half Dollars and the more common Restrikes were separate issues that still deserve mention here.
1861-S 939,500 0  
1862 253,000 550  
1862-S 1,352,000 0  
1863 503,200 460  
1863-S 916,000 0  
1864 379,100 470  
1864-S 658,000 0  
1865 511,400 500  
1865-S 675,000 0  
1866 No Motto 0 Unique The debate continues on whether the 1866 No Motto Half Dollar is a transitional pattern or a clandestine, mint-made fantasy piece.
1866-S No Motto 60,000 0  

WITH "IN GOD WE TRUST" ON REVERSE (1866-1891)

DATE MINTAGE FOR CIRCULATION MINTAGE OF PROOFS NOTES
1866 With Motto 744,900 725  
1866-S With Motto 994,000 0  
1867 449,300 625  
1867-S 1,196,000 0  
1868 417,600 600  
1868-S 1,160,000 0  
1869 795,300 600  
1869-S 656,000 0  
1870 633,900 1,000  
1870-CC 54,617 0 This is a very rare and popular date.
1870-S 1,004,000 0  
1871 1,203,600 960  
1871-CC 153,950 0  
1871-S 2,178,000 0  
1872 880,600 950  
1872-CC 257,000 0  
1872-S 580,000 0  
1873 No Arrowheads at Date 801,200 600 Found with Open and Closed 3's. All of the Proofs are Closed 3's. The Open 3 is extremely rare.
1873-CC No Arrowheads at Date 122,500 0 Most were melted, making this an extremely rare issue
1873-S No Arrowheads at Date 5,000 0 None of these have ever been seen!

ARROWHEADS AT DATE (1873-1874)

DATE MINTAGE FOR CIRCULATION MINTAGE OF PROOFS NOTES
1873 1,815,150 550  
1873-CC 214,560 0  
1873-S 228,000 0  
1874 2,359,600 700  
1874-CC 59,000 0  
1874-S 394,000 0  

WITH MOTTO DESIGN RESTORED (1875-1891)

DATE MINTAGE FOR CIRCULATION MINTAGE OF PROOFS NOTES
1875 6,026,800 700  
1875-CC 1,008,000 0  
1875-S 3,200,000 0  
1876 8,418,000 1,150  
1876-CC 1,956,000 0  
1876-S 4,528,000 0  
1877 8,304,000 510 Look for the rare 1887/6 overdate.
1877-CC 1,420,000 0  
1877-S 5,356,000 0  
1878 1,377,600 800  
1878-CC 62,000 0  
1878-S 12,000 0 Extremely scarce in all grades.
1879 4,800 1,100  
1880 8,400 1,355  
1881 10,000 975  
1882 4,400 1,100  
1883 8,000 1,039  
1884 4,400 875  
1885 5,200 930  
1886 5,000 886  
1887 5,000 710  
1888 12,001 832  
1889 12,000 711  
1890 12,000 590  
1891 200,000 600 Last year of the type.



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