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How late did Lettered Edge Capped Bust halves circulate?
CaptHenway
Posts: 34,014 ✭✭✭✭✭
Does anybody know of a credible source that says when LE Capped Bust halves became uncommon enough in circulation that it could be said that they were "no longer in circulation?" Obviously they were still legal tender and could have been spent into the 20th Century, just as I still saw the occasional well-worn Barber dime in circulation back in 1960, but when did they cease being common?
A lot of them probably got melted down during the great recoinage of 1853-55, but there are plenty of pre-1853 Seated halves around so we know that not everything got destroyed.
Most silver disappeared during the Civil War, but then reappeared in the mid-1870's as the price of silver fell and the coins became worth more as currency than as bullion. Were Capped Bust halves among them?
No conjecture, please. I am looking for documentation.
Thanks,
TD
A lot of them probably got melted down during the great recoinage of 1853-55, but there are plenty of pre-1853 Seated halves around so we know that not everything got destroyed.
Most silver disappeared during the Civil War, but then reappeared in the mid-1870's as the price of silver fell and the coins became worth more as currency than as bullion. Were Capped Bust halves among them?
No conjecture, please. I am looking for documentation.
Thanks,
TD
Numismatist. 54 year member ANA. Former ANA Senior Authenticator. Winner of four ANA Heath Literary Awards; three Wayte and Olga Raymond Literary Awards; Numismatist of the Year Award 2009, and ANA Lifetime Achievement Award 2020. Also won the PNG's Robert Friedberg Award for "The Enigmatic Lincoln Cents of 1922," Available now from Whitman or Amazon.
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