The
half dime, or
half disme, was a
silverSilver is a chemical element with the chemical symbol Ag and atomic number 47. A soft, white, lustrous transition metal, it has the highest electrical conductivity of any element and the highest thermal conductivity of any metal...
coinA coin is a piece of hard material, usually metal or a metallic material and sometimes made of synthetic materials, usually in the shape of a disc, and most often issued by a government. Coins are used as a form of money in transactions of various kinds, from the everyday circulation coins to the...
, valued at five
centIn many national currencies, the cent is a monetary unit that equals 1/100 of the basic monetary unit. The word also refers to the coin which is worth one cent....
s, formerly
mintA mint is an industrial facility which manufactures coins for currency.The history of mints correlates closely with the history of coins. One difference is that the history of the mint is normally related in a fashion that more closely ties to the political situation of an era...
ed in the
United StatesThe United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
.
The denomination was one of the
original coinsThe Coinage Act or the Mint Act, passed by the United States Congress on April 2, 1792, established the United States Mint and regulated the coinage of the United States. The long title of the legislation is An act establishing a mint, and regulating the Coins of the United States...
first authorized in 1792, and production began the following year. These coins were much smaller than dimes in diameter and thickness, appearing to be "half dimes". In the 1860s, powerful
nickelNickel is a chemical element, with the chemical symbol Ni and atomic number 28. It is a silvery-white lustrous metal with a slight golden tinge. It is one of the four ferromagnetic elements at about room temperature, other three being iron, cobalt and gadolinium...
interests successfully lobbied for the creation of new coins, which would be made of a
copperCopper is a chemical element with the symbol Cu and atomic number 29.It is a ductile metal with very high thermal and electrical conductivity. Pure copper is rather soft and malleable and a freshly-exposed surface has a pinkish or peachy color...
-nickel
alloyAn alloy is a partial or complete solid solution of one or more elements in a metallic matrix. Complete solid solution alloys give single solid phase microstructure, while partial solutions give two or more phases that may be homogeneous in distribution depending on thermal history...
; production of such coins began in 1865 and were struck in two denominations — three and five cents (the latter introduced in 1866).
The introduction of the copper-nickel five-cent pieces made the
silverSilver is a chemical element with the chemical symbol Ag and atomic number 47. A soft, white, lustrous transition metal, it has the highest electrical conductivity of any element and the highest thermal conductivity of any metal...
coins of the same denomination redundant, and they were discontinued in 1873.
The following types of half dimes were produced by the
United States MintThe United States Mint primarily produces circulating coinage for the United States to conduct its trade and commerce. The main Mint facility is located in Washington, D.C., and branch facilities are located in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; Denver, Colorado; San Francisco, California; and West...
:
In 1978 a coin collector surprised the coin collecting community with an 1870-
S (San Francisco)The San Francisco Mint is a branch of the United States Mint, and was opened in 1854 to serve the gold mines of the California Gold Rush. It quickly outgrew its first building and moved into a new one in 1874. This building, the Old United States Mint also known affectionately as The Granite Lady,...
half dime, believed to have been found in a dealer's box of cheap coins at a coin show.
Discussion
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The
half dime, or
half disme, was a
silverSilver is a chemical element with the chemical symbol Ag and atomic number 47. A soft, white, lustrous transition metal, it has the highest electrical conductivity of any element and the highest thermal conductivity of any metal...
coinA coin is a piece of hard material, usually metal or a metallic material and sometimes made of synthetic materials, usually in the shape of a disc, and most often issued by a government. Coins are used as a form of money in transactions of various kinds, from the everyday circulation coins to the...
, valued at five
centIn many national currencies, the cent is a monetary unit that equals 1/100 of the basic monetary unit. The word also refers to the coin which is worth one cent....
s, formerly
mintA mint is an industrial facility which manufactures coins for currency.The history of mints correlates closely with the history of coins. One difference is that the history of the mint is normally related in a fashion that more closely ties to the political situation of an era...
ed in the
United StatesThe United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
.
The denomination was one of the
original coinsThe Coinage Act or the Mint Act, passed by the United States Congress on April 2, 1792, established the United States Mint and regulated the coinage of the United States. The long title of the legislation is An act establishing a mint, and regulating the Coins of the United States...
first authorized in 1792, and production began the following year. These coins were much smaller than dimes in diameter and thickness, appearing to be "half dimes". In the 1860s, powerful
nickelNickel is a chemical element, with the chemical symbol Ni and atomic number 28. It is a silvery-white lustrous metal with a slight golden tinge. It is one of the four ferromagnetic elements at about room temperature, other three being iron, cobalt and gadolinium...
interests successfully lobbied for the creation of new coins, which would be made of a
copperCopper is a chemical element with the symbol Cu and atomic number 29.It is a ductile metal with very high thermal and electrical conductivity. Pure copper is rather soft and malleable and a freshly-exposed surface has a pinkish or peachy color...
-nickel
alloyAn alloy is a partial or complete solid solution of one or more elements in a metallic matrix. Complete solid solution alloys give single solid phase microstructure, while partial solutions give two or more phases that may be homogeneous in distribution depending on thermal history...
; production of such coins began in 1865 and were struck in two denominations — three and five cents (the latter introduced in 1866).
The introduction of the copper-nickel five-cent pieces made the
silverSilver is a chemical element with the chemical symbol Ag and atomic number 47. A soft, white, lustrous transition metal, it has the highest electrical conductivity of any element and the highest thermal conductivity of any metal...
coins of the same denomination redundant, and they were discontinued in 1873.
The following types of half dimes were produced by the
United States MintThe United States Mint primarily produces circulating coinage for the United States to conduct its trade and commerce. The main Mint facility is located in Washington, D.C., and branch facilities are located in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; Denver, Colorado; San Francisco, California; and West...
:
Flowing Hair 1794-1795
Draped Bust (Small Eagle Reverse) 1796-1797
Capped Bust 1829-1837
Seated Liberty (various subtypes) 1837-1873
1870-S half dime
In 1978 a coin collector surprised the coin collecting community with an 1870-
S (San Francisco)The San Francisco Mint is a branch of the United States Mint, and was opened in 1854 to serve the gold mines of the California Gold Rush. It quickly outgrew its first building and moved into a new one in 1874. This building, the Old United States Mint also known affectionately as The Granite Lady,...
half dime, believed to have been found in a dealer's box of cheap coins at a coin show. According to mint records for 1870, no half dimes had been minted in San Francisco; yet, here was a genuine 1870-S half dime. At an auction later that same year, the 1870-S half dime sold for $425,000. It is believed that another example may exist, along with other denominations minted that year in San Francisco in the cornerstone of the old San Francisco Mint.
Canada
CanadaCanada is a country occupying most of northern North America, extending from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
also once used silver coins of five-cent denomination; they were colloquially referred to as "fish scales," due to the fact that they were very thin (the term "half dime" never having been used in Canada), and were produced until Canada also switched to
nickel five-cent piecesThe Canadian five-cent coin, commonly called a nickel, is a coin worth five cents or one-twentieth of a Canadian dollar. It was patterned on the corresponding coin in the neighbouring United States...
in 1922. With the decision to change to nickel, the remaining stock of 5 cent silver, including almost all of the 1921 production, was melted down. Only about 400 examples of the 1921 5 cent survive today and these coins rank among the best known rare coins in the annals of Canadian
numismaticsNumismatics is the study or collection of currency, including coins, tokens, paper money, and related objects. While numismatists are often characterized as students or collectors of coins, the discipline also includes the broader study of money and other payment media used to resolve debts and...
.
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