1846 Seated Liberty Half Dime

The story of the 1846

Production at Philadelphia fell off a cliff in 1846. Only 27,000 were made, against 1.6 million the year before. That drop is why the 1846 is the one people look for. The next year it made 1.3 million (1847).

No other mint struck it for circulation that year, so every 1846 you find is from Philadelphia. In the whole series, its mintage sits closest to the 1863 (18,000) and the 1864 (48,000).

Philadelphia struck the Seated Liberty Half Dime in 39 issues between 1837 and 1873. By mintage this one lands in the scarcer half, while the key for that mint is the 1867 (8,000). No Seated Liberty Half Dime of the 1840s had a smaller run.

More on the 1846

Philadelphia struck only 27,000 half dimes in 1846, one of the lowest totals of the series. New Orleans made none that year. The low figure came two years before gold was found in California, an event that later pushed up the value of silver.

The 1846 is a key date and a significant rarity in every grade. Most survivors are well worn. Check the 6 under magnification, since altered dates are a known risk. A genuine 1846 has drapery at Liberty's elbow, stars on the obverse and weighs 1.34 grams. The 1847 that followed jumped to 1,274,000, which shows how unusual the 1846 total was. Every 1846 half dime is from Philadelphia, so there is no mint mark to look for. The tiny coin is easy to damage, so check for bends and holes as well as wear. Keep a problem-free 1846 in a holder and never clean it. It weighs the same as any other half dime of the 1840s.

The 1846 and the silver squeeze (1846 to 1852)

Philadelphia struck just 27,000 half dimes in 1846, the key of the decade and one of the rarest dates in the series. Output recovered to 1,274,000 in 1847. In 1848 Philadelphia used Medium Date and Large Date dies for its 668,000 coins, while New Orleans struck 600,000. The 1849 Philadelphia total of 1,309,000 includes the 1849/6 and 1849/8 overdates, made by recutting older date dies. The 1849-O, at 140,000, is another scarce date. New Orleans struck no half dimes from 1845 to 1847, then returned with 600,000 in 1848.

Gold from California made silver more valuable from about 1849. By 1850 the silver in a half dime was worth a little more than five cents, so many new coins were melted or sent abroad. Mintages stayed fairly high anyway. Philadelphia struck between 781,000 and 1,000,500 a year from 1850 to 1852 and New Orleans between 260,000 and 860,000. The 1852-O, at 260,000, is the scarcer coin of those years. Congress answered the shortage in 1851 with the three-cent silver coin, which held less silver than its face value so it could not profitably be melted.

For the 1846, check the date closely because altered dates exist. For the 1849, look at the last digit under strong magnification for traces of an earlier 6 or 8. All half dimes of this period still weigh 1.34 grams.