The Challenging Draped Bust Half Dimes
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The Draped Bust Half Dime is one of the most challenging types of all Bust coinage. One could legitimately claim it’s even tougher than the Draped Bust Half Dollar, which at least offers relatively more affordable dates from the early 1800s.
There’s no way around it. The Draped Bust Half Dime can be fairly classified as a rare type; even those more wary in throwing around the four-letter “r” word can’t avoid labeling the series as at least very scarce. Mintages were small out the gate, with the majority between 10,000 and 30,000 pieces. The highest mintage goes to the 1797, with 44,527; the least was just 3,060 for the series key 1802.
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Comments
Good article. I didn’t understand the analogy with the Bust Half though. For large Eagle type there is no comparison as the Draped Half Dime is much more scarce than their larger half dollar sister.
Such a great example of a true rarity
Here is a pretty nice one. PCGS 40 OGH.
Yes, this is the Eliasberg specimen, second finest known, behind the Garrett.
Only 9 are known in VF and better, and most of those 9 have significant contact marks.
https://forums.collectors.com/discussion/937249/1802-half-dime-provenance-top-9-specimens
The other draped bust half dimes are also very interesting and exist in higher grades, even if the 1802 gets special attention.
Note: in terms of collectability of the die marriages, the Flowing Hair half dimes are also quite rare.
Flowing Hair has 20 die marriages, of which 1 is R-7 and 8 are R-6.
Draped Bust has 11 die marriages of which 3 are R-7 and 1 is R-6. (the 1802 is R-5, but this is across all grades; most are culls).
Since I have several already, I have thought about starting a set of these. Minus the 1802 of course.
never say never golden, ya never know