Why was the half cent so unpopular in early America?
291fifth
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I've read that the half cent saw only limited use in the 1793-1857 period. Why was this? A half cent would have had some spending power in those days, wouldn't it?
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First they cut into merchants’ profits by providing a way to make change from a 12 and a half cent purchase. The real or “bit” was from the Spanish dollar which was divided into 8 parts.
Second, they had the stigma of being a poor man’s coin. In fact on of the reasons that Alexander Hamilton supported the half cent coinage was that it would make life easier for the poor who did not have much money.
And I think people probably found them inconvenient to carry around just like the large cents, which did not circulate well either. Even in those days a half cent did not buy much, but if you had a bunch of them it weighed down your pockets.
As yes half cents can be very attractive. Here is one of my favorite pieces.
It is a 1795, lettered edge, Cohen 1. It is a PCGS AU-58. It's in the top 20 among the finest known examples. For me it's a type coin.
<< <i>I've read that half cents were unpopular for two reasons.
First they cut into merchants’ profits by providing a way to make change from a 12 and a half cent purchase. The real or “bit” was from the Spanish dollar which was divided into 8 parts.
Second, they had the stigma of being a poor man’s coin. In fact on of the reasons that Alexander Hamilton supported the half cent coinage was that it would make life easier for the poor who did not have much money.
And I think people probably found them inconvenient to carry around just like the large cents, which did not circulate well either. Even in those days a half cent did not buy much, but if you had a bunch of them it weighed down your pockets.
As yes half cents can be very attractive. Here is one of my favorite pieces.
It is a 1795, lettered edge, Cohen 1. It is a PCGS AU-58. It's in the top 20 among the finest known examples. For me it's a type coin.
You bring up an interesting point regarding the use of the Spanish "bit." We tend to forget that this was a coin that was in common usage in the US up until 1857.
<< <i>I've read that the half cent saw only limited use in the 1793-1857 period. Why was this? A half cent would have had some spending power in those days, wouldn't it? >>
i do not agree w/ the allegation that 1/2 cents were so unpopular, except during latter years after 1830 or so.
K S
Yikes
i think alot of that exists too
their sure are some low grades that could explain different
<< <i><<<Is there any contemporary documentation that half cents were unpopular or was this speculation on the part of some coin authors? >>>
i think alot of that exists too
their sure are some low grades that could explain different >>
Yes, but the low grade coins are concentrated in the 1793 to 1811 era. After that it's rare to see the dates from 1825 to 1857 in anything less than VF by honest wear. Sure there are damaged and corroded coins, but you don’t see those dates worn down even to grades like Fine and VG very often.
<< <i>Yes, but the low grade coins are concentrated in the 1793 to 1811 era. After that it's rare to see the dates from 1825 to 1857 in anything less than VF by honest wear. Sure there are damaged and corroded coins, but you don’t see those dates worn down even to grades like Fine and VG very often. >>
Maybe people liked them so much that they saved them as keepsakes like Kennedy halves. When was the last time you saw a Kennedy half in a grade below VF?
Worry is the interest you pay on a debt you may not owe.
"Paper money eventually returns to its intrinsic value---zero."----Voltaire
"Everything you say should be true, but not everything true should be said."----Voltaire
(1/8 reale) has pretty limited utility. So the mintage figures reflect that.
Thanks,
Mark
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<< <i>Maybe people liked them so much that they saved them as keepsakes like Kennedy halves. When was the last time you saw a Kennedy half in a grade below VF? >>
Nice reach, but I don't think so. There very few coin collectors in America prior to 1857 when the end of the large cents got people interested in the hobby. If there were this amount of sentiment for the half cent, it certainly has not carried over to coin collectors in recent memory. For years the following opinion has been expressed in the The Red Book:
"All half cents are scarce, but the series has never enjoyed the popularity of some other series; hence the more common dates are reasonably priced."
He says (on p. 77): "The cent piece was not popular. It circulated only in the towns. The half-cent failed to find a place anywhere. It was not coined at all in the years from 1811 to 1825. It is doubtful whether the bulk of the fairly steady output of cents went into circulation. It was the custom of the Treasury to send the copper pieces, packed in casks, to the various government offices. Copper was a rare metal, imported only from England, and at times the market price rose to a point where the copper pieces were worth more as metal than as coin. At such times industrial concerns would buy the coins by the cask and melt them for commercial use. Manufacture and trade in that day were not adjusted to small margins of profit, and cent and half-cent values, despite the low price level, were almost unknown."
On p. 103, he also says:
"From 1830 onward there was a fairly steady increase in the coinage of copper cents, although it did not keep pace with the growth of population. The field of circulation of the copper coins expanded slowly. Many uses which modern life finds for a cent were non-existent. Cheap newspapers, post cards, "penny matches," small confections, and slot machines [vending machines] had not appeared. In most sections, especially in the South and the West, the media [half-real] and the half-dime were the smallest coins in circulation. In the Eastern cities diminishing margins of profit were making a small place for the cent piece. The half-cent was not widely used anywhere, and the coinage was negligible. Both the copper coins were of pure metal and turned black with use. Year after year the mint directors, in their annual reports, discussed the unpopularity of the copper coins and expressed the belief that they were at last coming into general use."
Check out the Southern Gold Society
<< <i>At least they didn't make a "quarter of a cent"(Farthing) or worse yet a "1/3 Farthing", like the cousins across the ditch. Imaging carrying around a bunch of tiny little coppers that were 12 to a penny!
Yikes >>
Keep going... GB also made a "Quarter farthing" that was even smaller than the third farthing (I collect fractional farthings by date).
1/2 Cents
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