Why are bust halves so plentiful and inexpensive?

Blade

I think it is so cool that you can still get an awesome XF bust half from 1825 for under $100. Heck, you can complete the entire series in XF with all the overdates and still average less than $250 per coin. Why are these so plentiful? Were they hoarded?

dorkkarl

hoarding is not the reason. the reason is they never experienced attrition like later silver series.

the intrinsic silver content during the era of bust halves never came very close to the face value, thus no reason to melt 'em down. therefore, they stayed locked up in banks, etc.

lucky for us

K S

BillJones

After the government stopped issuing silver dollars in 1803, the half dollar was the largest denomination that was generally available. The gold coins contained too much gold and were often exported, melted or hoarded. As a result many half dollars were held by banks that used them to back their currency or pay off debts to other banks. Bank currency during the pre Civil War days was poorly regulated and accepting it was very risky. Therefore half dollars were one reliable form of currency.

Since these coins spent their time in bags and not in circulation, there are a great many of them available today in VF and EF. True AU coins are a bit scarce and true Mint State examples are quite scarce. Many Bust half dollars remained in bank hoards until the 20th century. In fact when some banks were bust during the Great Depression, large numbers of these coins turned up in their vaults. It is for these reasons that Bust Half Dollars are more common than other silver coins of the period from 1808 to 1836.

NumisEd

Nicely stated, Bill.

Blade

Thanks Bill. That was very helpful.

Crashtestfixer

true xf-au are tough ta come across not meddled with. seeme most are over graded once u become familier with them. not very many floatin round the mile hi metro that I want to go home with.
avb