Jeff Garrett, author of Whitman Publishing’s 100 Greatest United States Coins series, has us sitting in the middle of the pack with this next pick in our blog series following along with this fourth edition. Categorized as a classic United States rarity, the half dollars we are about to focus on not only have an extremely low mintage, but also the total number of the coins reflects not one but two different years.
#56 - 1796 & 1797 Draped Bust Half Dollars
Bust half dollars with the year dates 1796 and 1797 combine for a total mintage of just 3,918 pieces. The years were mixed in the United States Mint’s records. The low number brought more attention to the fact that the scarcity of silver during the early days of the Mint was extreme. Combine the silver shortage with lost and destroyed coins and you will get the reason behind the severely low number of surviving coins. Also, during this time at the Mint, silver bullion depositors could request the denomination they desired, and silver dollars were at the top of that list at the expense of the half dollar.
The Mint recorded no delivered 1796 Draped Bust half dollars, but historians indicate that they believe that they were struck in 1796 but not delivered to the coiner until early 1797. That is when the Mint recorded 934 half dollars. In May of 1797, they recorded all 1797-dated half dollar coins. Earlier versions of the 1796 coins featured 15 stars on the front representing the states in the Union. However, later versions feature 16 stars as Tennessee was later admitted as a state in 1797.
All the known 1796 and 1797 half dollars that exist today are pretty well circulated. Collectors gravitate towards any condition of the coins, even those that have been professionally repaired. This is usually not the case, only exacerbating the importance of the Draped Bust half dollars from those years.
The historic market value of the 1796, 15 Stars variety, 1796, 16 Stars variety, and the 1797 in an Extremely Fine condition were all listed at $2,000 in 1960. By this fourth edition of the publication (2015), they shot to $150,000.
