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Why low mintage of early half cents?
Romankow
Posts: 104 ✭✭✭
I've always wondered why mintages of early half cents were so low.
Look at these numbers:
- In the year 1800, the US population was approximately 5,300,000
- From 1793 to 1800, the combined mintage of half cents was 588,762
- From 1793 to 1800, the combined mintage of large cents was 7,602,163
So, why did the government mint 7.6 million cents by the year 1800, but only 500,000 half cents?
It would seem that, if people really did use half cents when purchasing things, then there would be an enormous shortage of them.
Any ideas?
1
Comments
As several Bowers books have said. It is easier to make 1 cent than 2 1/2 cents.
I would also think that it was about how many were needed. During any single transaction you only needed a maximum of 1 half cent but up to four one cents.
The half cent was created to make change for foreign currency that was not based on our decimal approach to the dollar. In those early years much commerce used Spanish coinage, and the reales was worth 1/8 of a dollar, or 12.5 cents. So to make US change on a reales, a half-cent was necessary.
There is a good article on half cents in the November issue of The Numismatist, and it explains this and other details about the half cent.
My strategy is about collecting what I intend to keep, not investing in what I plan to sell.
Very solid rationale for low mintage of half cents. Cheers, RickO
interesting how late half cent production resembles late Kennedy half production.
It makes (half-) sense to me too!
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