1797 Draped Bust Half Dime
Circulation strike struck at the Philadelphia Mint · 44,527 made
- Mintage
- 44,527
- Metal
- 89.24% silver, 10.76% copper
- Weight
- 1.35 g
- Diameter
- 16.5 mm
Original illustration. Tap to flip. Not a photograph of the actual coin.
Face value · Metal value · Small premium · Collector premium · Significant rarity. We use bands because prices change daily.
What is a 1797 Draped Bust Half Dime worth?
Few coins in the series are harder to find. Even a worn 1797 sells well above face value. The flip side is that counterfeits and altered dates are common, so authentication matters.
What would make yours worth more:
- Uncirculated condition with full original luster
- A die variety or minting error
- Certification by PCGS or NGC, which buyers expect for scarce dates
For market prices, check recent sold results for certified coins in the same grade.
Quick answers
- Is the 1797 Draped Bust Half Dime rare?
- Yes. Only 44,527 were made, 7th lowest of the 7 regular issues in the series.
- Is the 1797 Draped Bust Half Dime silver?
- Yes. It's 89.24% silver, 10.76% copper and holds 0.0387 troy ounces of pure silver.
- Where is the mint mark on a 1797 Draped Bust Half Dime?
- No mint mark. Struck in Philadelphia.
- Which Philadelphia dates near 1797 are scarcer?
- The 1802 at 3,060, the 1796 at 10,230, the 1801 at 27,760, plus 1 more. So the 1797 is one of the easier dates of its stretch.
- How many 1797 Draped Bust Half Dime coins were made?
- 44,527.
What to check on your 1797
- There's no mint mark on this one, so the date and condition are what matter.
- Check the date and mint mark under magnification for tooling or added letters. Scarce dates are the ones forgers alter.
- Don't clean it. Cleaning leaves fine scratches and an unnatural shine that collectors avoid.
- Old coins pick up damage over a long life. Look for holes, bends, scratches or signs of cleaning before you judge the grade, because a damaged coin sells for a fraction of a problem-free one.
- Judge the grade under good light. Look at the hair and drapery on the obverse and the eagle's wings and shield on the reverse. Weak strikes are common.
Never clean it. Collectors pay strong premiums for original surfaces and natural toning on a date like this. A cleaned coin can lose half its value or more. Low-mintage dates attract altered and counterfeit coins. Check that the date have not been tooled or added, or buy one already certified by PCGS or NGC.
The story of the 1797
Philadelphia ramped up hard in 1797: 44,527 coins, about 4.4 times the 1796 run. After that, Philadelphia didn't make another until 1800.
No other mint struck it for circulation that year, so every 1797 you find is from Philadelphia. In the whole series, its mintage sits closest to the 1800 (40,000) and the 1803 (37,850).
Of the 7 Draped Bust Half Dimes Philadelphia struck between 1796 and 1805, none was made in bigger numbers. The scarcest Philadelphia issue is the 1802 at 3,060.
The Draped Bust and the small eagle (1796 to 1797)
In 1796 Robert Scot's Draped Bust portrait replaced the Flowing Hair on the half dime. Mint Director Henry William DeSaussure, who served only a few months in 1795, wanted better designs for all silver coins. The portrait had appeared on the dollar late in 1795 and soon spread to all the silver and copper coins. The new Liberty has her hair tied with a ribbon and drapery at her shoulder. The reverse keeps a small eagle perched inside a wreath and there is still no denomination on the coin.
Philadelphia struck 10,230 half dimes dated 1796. That total includes the 1796/5 overdate and the LIKERTY variety, where a broken B punch makes LIBERTY read like LIKERTY. In 1797 the Mint made 44,527. The 1797 coins come with fifteen stars, sixteen stars after Tennessee joined the Union in 1796 and finally thirteen stars, when the Mint gave up adding stars for new states. The thirteen star coin is the one collectors seek hardest.
These are the only Draped Bust half dimes with the small eagle reverse, so they are an important type. All are significant rarities and most survivors are well worn. Many show adjustment marks from filing at the Mint, as well as old damage. Count the stars, read LIBERTY carefully and look for a reeded edge. Every one was struck by hand on a screw press at Philadelphia.
Elsewhere in US coinage in 1797
Production of the Draped Bust quarter stopped after 1796 and would not resume until 1804.
How to recognize it
Liberty faces right with her hair gathered by a ribbon at the back of her head, curls falling to her shoulder and drapery across her bust. LIBERTY is at the top and the date below, with stars on each side: fifteen in 1796, fifteen, sixteen or thirteen in 1797 and thirteen from 1800. Half dimes of 1796 and 1797 have a small eagle standing on clouds inside an open wreath. From 1800 the reverse shows the heraldic eagle with a shield on its breast, olive branch and arrows in its claws, a ribbon reading E PLURIBUS UNUM and thirteen stars beneath a band of clouds. UNITED STATES OF AMERICA runs around the edge. The coin is about 16.5 millimeters across, with a reeded edge, no mint mark and no denomination.
Mintage chart
Specifications
| Series | Draped Bust Half Dime (1796–1805) |
|---|---|
| Year | 1797 |
| Mint | Philadelphia Mint |
| Mint mark | None |
| Strike type | Circulation strike |
| Mintage | 44,527 |
| Face value | 5¢ |
| Composition | 89.24% silver, 10.76% copper |
| Weight | 1.35 grams |
| Diameter | 16.5 mm |
| Edge | Reeded |
| Silver content | 0.0387 troy oz (1.205 g) |
| Designer | Robert Scot |
Other 1797 Draped Bust Half Dime issues
| Coin | Mintage | Type | Silver |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1797 Draped Bust Half Dime | 44,527 | Circulation strike | 0.0387 oz |
| 1797 Draped Bust Half Dime (13 Stars obverse) | – | Variety | 0.0387 oz |
Mintage: US Mint records as published in standard references, each figure checked against at least two independent sources. How we build these pages.