I Believe I Have One of Among the First 3,500 Halves Minted by the US Mint

[TomB]

This afternoon I was having new tires put on my car and, as I waited, I was reading America's Silver Coinage, 1794-1891. This was published by the ANS in 1987 and is part of their Coinage of the Americas Conference series.

 

One of the articles in the book is titled The "Group Strength" of Dies for Early Half Dollars and was written by Robert P Hilt, II, who expanded upon some of what he had previously written in his book Die Varieties of Early United States Coins.

 

He runs through his 30-year experience of examining every 1794 half dollar that he could either get his hands on or that he could examine through photographs and details survivors by die marriage and emission sequence. He also writes about the fledgling Mint's strategy for producing coins and the reserves of ready made or partially made dies that they would have on-hand. At one point in the article he discusses for whom the coins were made, when they were produced and when they were delivered.

 

For those of you who are not aware, the US Mint originally produced coinage on demand. That is, they produced silver or gold coins in response to a deposit made with the Mint for their production. The contemporary law had stated that all bullion shall be coined and returned, at no expense to the depositor, and that no other coinage could take place until the earliest deposits were coined.

 

The first deposit of silver to the US Mint was made by the Bank of Maryland in July, 1794. Mint records reveal that the first Warrant of delivery was for 1,758 silver dollars and these were delivered on October 15, 1794, with the second and third Warrants of delivery being comprised of half dollars. The second Warrant was for 5,300 half dollars on December 1, 1794 while the third Warrant was for an additional 18,164 half dollars on February 4, 1795. This last Warrant was for the striking and delivery of 1794 half dollars, thus the accepted mintage of 23,464 half dollars dated 1794.

 

Bank of Maryland representatives came to the US Mint on March 12, 1795 to pick up the first minting of coins from their deposit. At this time they received 90,932 half dollars as there was a fourth Warrant of March 3, 1795 for an additional 60,660 half dollars bearing the correct date of 1795. The emission sequence chains indicate that the first 5,300 half dollar coins produced by the Mint would have obverse 1 paired with reverses A and B, as we designate them now and as may be looked up in Al Overton's revered reference work Early Half Dollar Die Varieties 1794-1836. These turn out to be the O.101 and O.102 varieties, respectively.

 

The 1794 half dollar that I own is a wonderful, original, crusty grey-brown coin that has thankfully survived over two centuries of possible abuse in an unscathed manner. It also happens to be an O.101 variety, placing it in the first Warrant of half dollars coined and delivered. There were an estimated 3,500 half dollars produced with this die pairing before the reverse die failed and the remaining 1,800 coins from the Warrant were issued. Both dies then failed and a new pair die marriage was put into use. What is additionally cool about this coin is that, if all of the research is correct, this coin is not just one of the first issue half dollars, but it was also among the only issue of half dollars that were actually struck in 1794. This works out to about 22.6% of the 1794 dated halves being struck in 1794 and a whopping 77.4% of the 1794 dated halves being struck in 1795.

 

The coin is below.

[Hoot]

Very cool Tom. Isn't it great the detective work that has been done? It never ceases to amaze me. Some numismatists work tirelessly.

 

Great coin!

 

Hoot

[CarolinaCollector]

Super coin! Thanks for the background.

[truthteller]

Very nice indeed. You seem to have a very strong passion for investigative work.

 

 

TRUTH

[michael]

great coin WITH above average eye appeal and the history and research adds to it

 

i know nothing about these early halves and it was a great read and an even greater learning experience for me

 

tomb

 

 

michael

[chinook]

Great looking coin. Nice and original. In many respects much nicer than a mint state example.

[SilverDollarMan]

Very interesting read. Nice coin too!

[stman]

Hi Tom, great investigative work on your part. And a super great, nice and crusty coin you have there.

 

You post this at a time I've been thinking of acquiring a 1794 Flowing Hair Half.

I don't think I would be able to afford one with this much detail though. IMO these coins are the ultimate to find and collect in original problem free condition.

[airplanenut]

Awesome coin and history, Tom! I want to see that puppy first-hand... and I want to buy a flowing hair half soon

 

Bank of Maryland representatives came to the US Mint on March 12, 1795 to pick up the first minting of coins from their deposit

Excellent choice... only 192 years, to the day, before I was born

[HaydenTubbs]

Quite an educational read Tom!I hope you'll do more educational posts in the future,and that is one very nice coin!

 

Bank of Maryland representatives came to the US Mint on March 12, 1795 to pick up the first minting of coins from their deposit

Excellent choice... only 192 years, to the day, before I was born

Oh, I didn't know you were only 17.I thought you were an old geezer like most of the rest of us!

[rainbowroosie]

Tom,

Cool coin.

[goose3]

GREAT coin Tom!!!!!

[TomB]

Thank you for the kind words about the coin! I think, however, I will have to have a follow-up post about this coin in the future.

 

I agree with you, stman, that these coins are terrific buys. This one was purchased shortly before the prices started to move forward. A nice VG8-F12 would make a heck of an addition to a set, and wouldn't set one back nearly as much as a VF20 coin.