Draped Bust/Heraldic Eagle Half Dimes 1800-1805 Coin Guide
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Draped Bust/Heraldic Eagle Half Dimes 1800-1805
Thomas Jefferson, author of the Declaration of Independence, was also
the author of the philosophical direction of the United States. He grew up
on the edge of civilization in the "hard scrabble" life of
American Colonial days, a self-taught, natural student who learned the
basics of living from the books he loved. His heroes were not politicians
or soldiers, but philosopher-scientists such as Isaac Newton, Thomas Bacon
and Adam Smith. Jefferson was living in Paris in the 1780s, absorbing the
new spirit of Enlightenment. He embraced a philosophy that taught the
unbiased pursuit of knowledge and skepticism of "truths" long
taken for granted. The aim was to no longer just reflect on the state of
the world or contemplate another, but to change it.
As Secretary of State under George Washington, Jefferson's public
policies reflected his belief in rational change. When it was time for the
fledgling United States to create a system of coinage, he knew a decimal
system was a scientific and practical necessity, as he followed the work
of Simon Stevin van Brugghe who, in the late 16th century, invented the
decimal system as an alternative to fractions. Stevin's pamphlet, De
Thiende {1585}, later translated by Robert Norton as Disme: the art of
tenths, or, Decimall arithmeticke, was familiar to many of Jefferson's
colleagues, including Benjamin Franklin, Alexander Hamilton and the new
Mint Director, David Rittenhouse.
European and Colonial experiences with coinage were based on
jerry-built systems established over many years. They were also
non-decimal. The British system, for example, traced its origins to
Ancient Rome, with a few impositions by the Saxons and Normans. Its unit,
the pound, was divided into 20 shillings or 240 pence, with many
subsidiary silver and copper units. Spain's reales, a system of eights, or
the French system of livre tournois, divided into sols and deniers, were
simple compared to the even greater complexity of the German or Dutch
systems. Establishment of decimal coinage in the United States was not
only a clean break with the past, but truly revolutionary and consistent
with the new philosophies of "The Age of Enlightenment."
It was fitting that the first silver coins struck at the Federal Mint
in 1792 were half dismes, or twentieth-of-a-dollar coins (the spelling
"dime" didn't come into general use until 1837). This one act
not only established the decimal coinage system in the United States but
had enormous political significance, as the coinage of silver was
universally recognized as an expression of national sovereignty. Only
1,500 half dismes were made, and Jefferson gave many away as gifts.
President George Washington, in his annual address in November of 1792,
referred to the half dismes as "a small beginning" in coinage.
In November of 1793 the Mint hired banknote plate engraver Robert Scot
as the new chief engraver. This decision was regretted in future years, as
Scot proved to be egocentric, jealous and, as a tenured Mint employee,
cantankerous. He had no experience designing device punches for coins and
learned as he went. His first attempt-the 1794 Flowing Hair
design-suffered from broken punches and was greeted with harsh public
criticism. Commentary of the time described Liberty as wearing a
"fright" wig, and the bird on the reverse as resembling a turkey
more than an eagle.
In 1796, new Mint Director Henry William DeSaussure decided that the
coinage designs needed improvement and persuaded the illustrious painter
Gilbert Stuart to prepare a new portrait of Liberty. As Scot was too
unskilled to translate the buxom portrait to relief, the Mint hired John
Eckstein to create the models. Unfortunately, the completed dies degraded
Stuart's portrait, and the finished coins exhibited weakness in the center
of the design. This was most apparent on the half dimes. Due to various
problems at the mint, including yellow fever epidemics, the design was
minted for only two years. No more half dimes were struck until 1800.
Scot's design for the Draped Bust/Heraldic Eagle half dime of 1800 was
first used on the gold quarter eagle in 1796, the half eagle in 1797 and
the dollars and dimes in 1798. It features a strengthened and more
aesthetic rendering of Stuart's Draped Bust portrait of Liberty, her hair
tied with a ribbon. The inscription LIBERTY appears above her head, and
surrounding the bust are seven stars to the right and six to the left. The
reverse depicts a large eagle with outstretched wings-the Union Shield on
his breast-clutching thirteen arrows and an olive branch. His beak holds a
ribbon inscribed with the Latin motto E PLURIBUS UNUM (One made up of
many). Thirteen stars are above the eagle, with an arc of clouds above the
stars. UNITED STATES OF AMERICA surrounds the periphery.
A total of 124,270 Draped Bust/Heraldic Eagle half dimes were minted
from 1800 through 1805, with no coins dated 1804 and no proofs reported.
Collectors normally include this coin in a 19th century type set, along
with the Capped Bust half dime of 1829-37 and the several varieties of
Seated Liberty half dimes (1837-73). High grade pieces are elusive or
nonexistent. When uncirculated pieces do appear in the market, they're
most likely dated 1800. The rarest date of the series is 1802, with a
mintage of only 3,060. Noted researcher, the late Walter Breen, estimated
that only 35 to 45 examples of the 1802 issue survive in all grades, and
none in mint state. As counterfeits exist of this famous rarity,
authentication is highly recommended. An interesting variety of this
short-lived series is the 1800 LIBEKTY issue, made when a defective
"R" letter punch was used.
When grading this design take into account that, due to poor striking
quality, these coins usually exhibit weakness on one or more high points.
It is important to discern the difference between poor strike and actual
wear. Weak areas often include Liberty's hair and drapery, the obverse
stars and the stars and clouds above the eagle. The first places to show
wear are the hair above the forehead and by the ear, on the drapery just
over the date and the drapery lines at the bust. On the reverse, look for
wear on the eagle's wing tips and tail feathers.
Though the half dime denomination was important in commerce as a
convenient way to make change, the Mint's ability to make enough of these
coins was limited. Production of the Draped Bust/Heraldic Eagle half dimes
ceased in 1805. The markets, and especially the banks, preferred the large
quantities of legal tender Mexican silver half reales (valued at about six
cents) then in widespread use. The half dime was not minted again until
1829, when the denomination returned with the William Kneass/John Reich
Capped Bust design.
SPECIFICATIONS:
Diameter: 16.5 millimeters Weight: 1.35 grams Composition: .8924
silver, .1076 copper Edge: Reeded Net Weight: .0387 ounce pure silver
BIBLIOGRAPHY: Bowers, Q. David, U.S. Coins by Design
Types, Bowers and Merena Galleries, Inc., Wolfeboro, NH, 1986. Breen,
Walter, Walter Breen's Complete Encyclopedia of U.S. and Colonial Coins,
F.C.I. Doubleday, New York, 1988. Peterson, Merrill D., Jefferson and
Religious Freedom (Part I), The Atlantic Monthly, New York, 1994. Taxay,
Don, The U.S. Mint and Coinage, Arco Publishing Company, New York, 1966.
Valentine, Daniel W., The United States Half Dimes, Quarterman
Publications, Inc., Lawrence, MA, 1975.
Coin Information Provided Courtesy NGC.
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