Seated Liberty Half Dime Value Chart: Every Date From 1837 to 1873

The dates to check first

These are the lowest-mintage Seated half dimes struck for circulation. If you're sorting a jar or an inherited collection, pull these dates out before anything else and check the mint mark carefully.

1. 1867 Seated Liberty Half Dime: 8,000 made.
2. 1866 Seated Liberty Half Dime: 10,000 made.
3. 1865 Seated Liberty Half Dime: 13,000 made.
4. 1863 Seated Liberty Half Dime: 18,000 made.
5. 1846 Seated Liberty Half Dime: 27,000 made.
6. 1864 Seated Liberty Half Dime: 48,000 made.

Every seated liberty half dime by date and mint

Click any date for its full page: how many were made, the mint mark location, varieties and what to check. Mint marks matter: the same year can be common from one mint and scarce from another.

The series in 8 stages

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.

Steady output and the 1844-O (1841 to 1845)

With the drapery design in place, half dimes became an everyday coin. Philadelphia struck between 815,000 and 1,564,000 in every year from 1841 to 1845 except 1844. New Orleans added 815,000 in 1841 and 350,000 in 1842, then made no half dimes in 1843. Its 1844-O run of 220,000 is the scarce date of the period. New Orleans struck no half dimes in 1845.

The 1846 and the silver squeeze (1846 to 1852)

Philadelphia struck just 27,000 half dimes in 1846, the key of the decade and one of the rarest dates in the series. Output recovered to 1,274,000 in 1847. In 1848 Philadelphia used Medium Date and Large Date dies for its 668,000 coins, while New Orleans struck 600,000. The 1849 Philadelphia total of 1,309,000 includes the 1849/6 and 1849/8 overdates, made by recutting older date dies. The 1849-O, at 140,000, is another scarce date. New Orleans struck no half dimes from 1845 to 1847, then returned with 600,000 in 1848.

Arrows and the lighter half dime (1853 to 1855)

The Act of February 21, 1853 cut the weight of the half dime from 1.34 to 1.24 grams so that the coins would stay in circulation. Arrowheads beside the date marked the new standard. Unlike the quarter and half dollar, the half dime got no rays on the reverse. With its silver now worth less than its face value, the coin was no longer worth melting. Before the new dies were ready, Philadelphia struck 135,000 coins without arrows and New Orleans 160,000. The 1853-O without arrows is the rarer of the two and a key date of the series.

Arrows removed and big Philadelphia runs (1856 to 1859)

The arrows came off in 1856, though the 1.24 gram weight stayed. Philadelphia struck 4,880,000 half dimes that year and 7,280,000 in 1857, while New Orleans made 1,100,000 and 1,380,000. Spanish and Mexican silver lost its legal tender status in 1857, which raised demand for American small change. New Orleans struck more than a million half dimes in each of 1856, 1857 and 1858. That same law replaced the large copper cent with the small Flying Eagle cent.

The legend moves to the obverse (1860 to 1862)

In 1860 James B. Longacre replaced the stars with the words UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. The reverse now shows a cereal wreath of corn, wheat, maple and oak leaves around HALF DIME. Philadelphia struck 798,000 of the new design and New Orleans 1,060,000. That was the last New Orleans half dime, since Louisiana left the Union early in 1861. The new reverse puts HALF DIME inside the wreath with no lettering around it, because the country's name now sits on the obverse. No San Francisco half dimes were struck in these years. The design stayed in use until the denomination ended in 1873.

Civil War scarcity and the first San Francisco half dimes (1863 to 1867)

With silver hoarded in the East, Philadelphia struck very few half dimes for circulation. The totals were 18,000 in 1863, 48,000 in 1864, 13,000 in 1865, 10,000 in 1866 and 8,000 in 1867. Every one of these dates is a key and a significant rarity in any grade. The 1867, at 8,000, has the lowest business strike mintage of any regular Seated half dime. Fractional currency notes in denominations as low as three cents did the work these coins would normally have done. Philadelphia also struck proofs each year, from 460 to 725, so a proof is sometimes easier to find than a business strike.

The last half dimes (1868 to 1873)

Philadelphia struck 88,600 half dimes in 1868 and 208,000 in 1869, then 535,000 in 1870, 1,873,000 in 1871 and 2,947,000 in 1872. San Francisco made between 161,000 and 837,000 a year, except in 1870. No S half dimes were reported for that year, but a single 1870-S turned up in 1978 and is still the only one known. The 1872-S comes with the mint mark above the bow and below it. The 1871-S, with 161,000 struck, has the lowest regular S mintage of these years.

Decade by decade

• 1830s: 5 issues, 5.8 million coins. Scarcest: 1838-O (70,000).
• 1840s: 18 issues, 13 million coins. Scarcest: 1846 (27,000).
• 1850s: 22 issues, 51 million coins. Scarcest: 1853 (135,000).
• 1860s: 18 issues, 8.2 million coins. Scarcest: 1867 (8,000).
• 1870s: 7 issues, 7.4 million coins. Scarcest: 1871-S (161,000).

Where to find the mint mark

• 1837 to 1873: On the reverse, below the bow of the wreath or inside the wreath, depending on the year. Philadelphia coins have no mint mark.

Identifying and grading Seated half dimes

LIBERTY on the shield wears first; a full LIBERTY marks Fine or better. These tiny coins are often bent, cleaned or holed.

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.

What the value bands mean

• Face value: worth its face in worn condition; only uncirculated coins and varieties carry a premium.
• Metal value: worth its silver content in worn condition.
• Small premium: sells for a little over face or metal value even when worn.
• Collector premium: scarcer than usual, so worn coins sell well above face or metal value.
• Significant rarity: a key date, valuable in any condition and often faked.

Bands describe a coin in ordinary circulated condition. An uncirculated coin with full original luster sits a band or more higher. Recognized varieties can be worth far more than the date itself.