Question about Liberty Seated Halves

csdot

I was comparing my 1861 Liberty Seated Half Dollar to some other Liberty Seated coins I have and noticed that Liberty on all but the Half has a curl of hair on her shoulder?

Here is the Liberty Seated Dollar:



Here is the Liberty Seated Half Dollar:



Here is the Liberty Seated Quarter:



Here is the Liberty Seated Dime:



Here is the Liberty Seated Half Dime:



Why is the half dollar different from the others?

oih82w8

My question is why is the drapery below the left arm different (smaller) on the Half Dollar?

There are minor difference between the denominations; number of fingers holding the pole (three or four), number of outer shield lines (one or two), etc...

It just depends on the size of the coin I guess.

LindeDad

<< <i>My question is why is the drapery below the left arm different (smaller) on the Half Dollar? >>



Because it was added it was not on the basic design. Never noticed that curl on the shoulder as I never got the others just the halves.

lclugza

The pics of the half dime and dime seem to be the same coin.

Drapery from elbow wasn't added until late 1839, or in the 1840's. Also, when they added drapery, all the coins except the half dollar had the design redone by Robert Ball Hughes (note that the half dollar design- after 1839- is the one that most resembles the Gobrecht dollar.)

CaptHenway

There was Gobrecht's original design used on the 1836-39 dollars, the half dimes and dimes of 1837-1840 (some), the quarters of 1838-1840 (some), and some 1839 halves. In response to complaints to somebody Gobrecht made a minor modification to the half dollar in 1839. In 1840 a more substantial modification was made to the design for some of the half dimes, dimes and quarters and all of the dollars. For some unknown reason, perhaps because it had been already slightly modified in 1839, this greater modification was never adapted to the half dollar, and it stayed basically the same until the design was phased out in 1891.