This listing is for the photographed 1853 Half Dime. Great beginning to a collection with half dimes, or addition to an existing collection. This series, among the other half dimes, are well sought by collectors of early American coins.
The half dime was a silver coin, valued at five cents, formerly minted in the United States.
These coins were much smaller than dimes in diameter and thickness, appearing to be "half dimes". In the 1860s, powerful interests promoting the use of nickel as a metal for use in coinage successfully lobbied for the creation of new three and five cent coins, which would be made of a copper-nickel alloy; production of such coins began in 1865 and 1866, respectively. The introduction of the copper-nickel three and five-cent pieces made the silver coins of the same denomination redundant, and both silver denominations were discontinued in 1873.
The Capped Bust series was minted from 1829–1837. All coins of this series were minted at Philadelphia and display no mintmark. The high circulating mintage in the series was in 1835, when 2,760,000 were struck, and the low of 871,000 was in 1837. Both Capped Bust and Seated Liberty half dimes were minted in 1837.
1853 Half Dime - VG - 1853 Seated Liberty Half Dime - Early American Coin - 1853 Silver Half Dime Liberty Seated