1803 Draped Bust Half Dime
Circulation strike struck at the Philadelphia Mint · 37,850 made
- Mintage
- 37,850
- 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 an 1803 Draped Bust Half Dime worth?
Few coins in the series are harder to find. Even a worn 1803 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 1803 Draped Bust Half Dime rare?
- Yes. Only 37,850 were made, 5th lowest of the 7 regular issues in the series.
- Is the 1803 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 an 1803 Draped Bust Half Dime?
- No mint mark. Struck in Philadelphia.
- Which Philadelphia dates near 1803 are scarcer?
- The 1802 at 3,060, the 1805 at 15,600, the 1801 at 27,760. So the 1803 is one of the easier dates of its stretch.
- How many 1803 Draped Bust Half Dime coins were made?
- 37,850.
What to check on your 1803
- 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 1803
Philadelphia ramped up hard in 1803: 37,850 coins, about 12 times the 1802 run. After that, Philadelphia didn't make another until 1805.
No other mint struck it for circulation that year, so every 1803 you find is from Philadelphia. In the whole series, its mintage sits closest to the 1800 (40,000) and the 1797 (44,527).
Philadelphia struck the Draped Bust Half Dime in 7 issues between 1796 and 1805. By mintage this one lands in the more common half, while the key for that mint is the 1802 (3,060). Within the 1800s it's 4th smallest of 5, between the 1801 (27,760) and the 1800 (40,000).
The 1802 rarity and the last early half dimes (1802 to 1805)
The 1802 half dime is one of the great rarities of early American silver. Mint records list 3,060, the lowest figure of the type. Only a few dozen are known. All were struck from a single pair of dies. Its reverse die was also used for some 1801 and 1803 half dimes. Collectors have prized the 1802 since the middle of the 1800s. Many major collections of the past never found one.
The Mint struck 37,850 half dimes in 1803, with Large 8 and Small 8 versions. No half dimes are dated 1804. The 15,600 coins of 1805 were the last half dimes for more than twenty years and are scarce, with most survivors in circulated grades. Mint figures of this time record deliveries by year rather than the date on the coins. Some specialists believe far fewer than 3,060 half dimes actually bear the 1802 date.
Because the 1802 is so valuable, any example needs expert authentication. Check that the date has not been altered from another year. For the 1803, compare the size of the 8 with the other digits. With no denomination on these coins, size is the quickest clue: a half dime is about 16.5 millimeters across, noticeably smaller than a dime of the same years. The half dime did not return until 1829, when William Kneass's Capped Bust design brought it back.
Elsewhere in US coinage in 1803
The last silver dollars for decades were struck with this date. Dollar coinage stopped in 1804 and President Jefferson's administration formally suspended it in 1806 because the coins were being exported rather than circulating.
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 | 1803 |
| Mint | Philadelphia Mint |
| Mint mark | None |
| Strike type | Circulation strike |
| Mintage | 37,850 |
| 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 |
Mintage: US Mint records as published in standard references, each figure checked against at least two independent sources. How we build these pages.