1838 Seated Liberty Half Dime (Small Stars)
Variety of the 1838 Seated Liberty Half Dime struck at the Philadelphia Mint
- Mintage
- Not recorded
- Metal
- 90% silver, 10% copper
- Weight
- 1.34 g
- Diameter
- 15.5 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 1838 Seated Liberty Half Dime (Small Stars) worth?
Value depends entirely on whether the coin is genuine and on its condition. Have any candidate authenticated before you buy or sell.
For market prices, check recent sold results for certified coins in the same grade.
Quick answers
- Is the 1838 Seated Liberty Half Dime (Small Stars) rare?
- Yes. It's a variety or error, not a regular issue.
- Is the 1838 Seated Liberty Half Dime (Small Stars) silver?
- Yes. It's 90% silver, 10% copper and holds 0.0388 troy ounces of pure silver.
- Where is the mint mark on an 1838 Seated Liberty Half Dime?
- On the reverse, below the bow of the wreath or inside the wreath, depending on the year. Philadelphia coins have no mint mark.
What to check on your 1838
- 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. LIBERTY on the shield wears first; a full LIBERTY marks Fine or better. These tiny coins are often bent, cleaned or holed.
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 1838
No stars, then stars, then drapery (1837 to 1840)
Christian Gobrecht's Seated Liberty half dime appeared in 1837, the same year as the dime. The first coins have no stars on the obverse, just Liberty and the date. Philadelphia struck 1,405,000 of them, in Large Date and Small Date forms. In 1838 the new New Orleans Mint made its first half dimes, 70,000 coins that also lack stars. The 1838-O is the key of the early years and a significant rarity in any grade. Only these two issues, the 1837 and the 1838-O, carry the No Stars design, so both are popular type coins.
Philadelphia added thirteen stars around Liberty in 1838 and struck 2,225,000 coins with Large Stars and Small Stars. In 1839 Philadelphia and New Orleans made almost the same number, 1,069,150 and 1,034,039. Late in 1840 Robert Ball Hughes reworked Liberty, adding drapery at her left elbow. Both mints struck both styles that year. Philadelphia made 1,034,000 without drapery and 310,085 with it. New Orleans made 695,000 without drapery and 240,000 with it, which makes the 1840-O With Drapery the scarcer of the pair.
All half dimes of these years are 15.5 millimeters across and weigh 1.34 grams of 90 percent silver. They are tiny and easy to lose, so many survivors show bends, holes or harsh cleaning. Check for stars first, then look below Liberty's elbow for the drapery.
Elsewhere in US coinage in 1838
Three branch mints opened in 1838: New Orleans, Louisiana and the gold-only mints at Charlotte, North Carolina and Dahlonega, Georgia. The Liberty Seated design reached the quarter.
How to recognize it
Liberty sits on a rock with her right hand on a shield crossed by a scroll reading LIBERTY and her left hand holding a pole topped by a liberty cap. The 1837 and 1838-O half dimes show nothing else on the obverse but the date. From 1838 to 1859 thirteen stars ring the design and from 1860 they are replaced by UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. Drapery falls from her left elbow on coins from late 1840 on. Arrows beside the date mark the lighter coins of 1853 to 1855. Until 1859 the reverse shows HALF DIME inside a laurel wreath circled by UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. From 1860 a cereal wreath of corn, wheat, maple and oak leaves surrounds HALF DIME alone. Mint marks for New Orleans and San Francisco are on the reverse near the bow.
Mintage chart
Specifications
| Series | Seated Liberty Half Dime (1837–1873) |
|---|---|
| Year | 1838 |
| Mint | Philadelphia Mint |
| Mint mark | None |
| Strike type | Circulation strike |
| Mintage | Not recorded |
| Face value | 5¢ |
| Composition | 90% silver, 10% copper |
| Weight | 1.34 grams |
| Diameter | 15.5 mm |
| Edge | Reeded |
| Silver content | 0.0388 troy oz (1.206 g) |
| Designer | Christian Gobrecht |
Other 1838 Seated Liberty Half Dime issues
| Coin | Mintage | Type | Silver |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1838 Seated Liberty Half Dime | 2,225,000 | Circulation strike | 0.0388 oz |
| 1838 Seated Liberty Half Dime (Small Stars) | – | Variety | 0.0388 oz |
| 1838-O Seated Liberty Half Dime | 70,000 | Circulation strike | 0.0388 oz |
Mintage: US Mint records as published in standard references, each figure checked against at least two independent sources. How we build these pages.