1795 US Coins: Values & Mintages

US coinage in 1795

Gold coinage began in 1795 with the first $5 half eagles and $10 eagles. Late in the year the Draped Bust portrait by Gilbert Stuart replaced the Flowing Hair design on the silver dollar.

Last year of the Flowing Hair Half Dollar and the Flowing Hair Half Dime.

The Mint in the 1790s

The Coinage Act of April 2, 1792 created the United States Mint and set the dollar as the basic unit of money. The Mint was built in Philadelphia, then the nation's capital, on Seventh Street. David Rittenhouse, the astronomer and scientist, was its first director and Henry Voigt served as chief coiner. Robert Scot became the first engraver in 1793 and cut the dies for most designs of the decade.

Coining was slow and hard work. Presses were turned by hand and silver and gold were coined only when depositors brought in bullion or foreign coins to be converted. Copper was always short; the Mint bought scrap and sheet copper wherever it could and from 1797 relied on planchets shipped from Matthew Boulton's works in Birmingham, England. Yellow fever epidemics in Philadelphia closed the Mint for weeks at a time in the late 1790s, which is one reason some dates of the decade are so scarce.

How many coins were made in 1795

Counting the circulation issues on this page, US mints struck 916,849 coins dated 1795 across 5 issues. That is close to the 1794 total of 949,741. In 1796 the figure fell to 515,629.

Every circulation coin on this page came from Philadelphia.

Those coins held about 118,951 troy ounces of pure silver.

1795 coins by denomination

Cents: 538,509 struck in 3 circulation issues of the Liberty Cap Large Cent, down 41% on 1794. The scarcest is the 1795 (Reeded edge, 9 known) (9) and the most plentiful the 1795 (Plain edge) (501,500).

Half Dollars: 299,680 struck in 1 circulation issue of the Flowing Hair Half Dollar, up 1177% on 1794.

Odd Denominations: 78,660 struck in 1 circulation issue of the Flowing Hair Half Dime, up 914% on 1794.

Every 1795 circulation issue at a glance

• 1795 Liberty Cap Large Cent (Reeded edge, 9 known): 9 struck, the lowest mintage of all 6 Liberty Cap Large Cent issues, down from 918,521 in 1794.
• 1795 Liberty Cap Large Cent: 37,000 struck, 3rd lowest of 6 in the series, down from 918,521 in 1794.
• 1795 Flowing Hair Half Dime: 78,660 struck, up from 7,756 in 1794.
• 1795 Flowing Hair Half Dollar: 299,680 struck, up from 23,464 in 1794.
• 1795 Liberty Cap Large Cent (Plain edge): 501,500 struck, more than 80% of the series' 6 issues, down from 918,521 in 1794.

Liberty Cap Large Cent: Lighter cents and a plain edge

Rising copper costs led to a weight cut to 168 grains, confirmed by a presidential proclamation in January 1796. The year opened with cents carrying the lettered edge (about 37,000 recorded). The lettering was then dropped as planchets grew thinner. Plain edge cents made up most of the year with a reported 501,500 pieces. A reeded edge 1795 is known in only a handful of examples. The so called Jefferson Head cent of 1795, made by John Harper outside the Mint, is collected alongside the regular issues but is a separate piece.

In 1796 the Liberty Cap portrait shared the year with the new Draped Bust design. Only 109,825 Liberty Cap cents were reported before the switch. The thinner 1795 and 1796 planchets wore faster, so these dates are most often seen in Good to Fine with smooth, flattened hair. Because the Mint was still learning to make dies, many 1795 and 1796 cents show die cracks, clashing or weak centers, details that help specialists attribute each die marriage.

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Flowing Hair Half Dollar: The first half dollars of 1794 and 1795

The Mint struck its first half dollars in late 1794, a run of 23,464 from Robert Scot's Flowing Hair design. Liberty faces right with loose hair while the reverse shows a small eagle inside a wreath. The value appears only on the lettered edge, which reads FIFTY CENTS OR HALF A DOLLAR. The 1794 is scarce and nearly all survivors are well worn.

Output rose to 299,680 in 1795, so that date is the one most collectors own. Many die pairs were used and specialists collect them by die variety. The 1795 includes a recut date and a variety with three leaves under each wing of the eagle instead of two. Strikes are often weak at the center. Many coins show adjustment marks from filing heavy planchets before striking.

The first half dollars were struck from silver brought in by depositors, much of it in the form of foreign coins. Each planchet was weighed and filed by hand if it was too heavy, so many coins show adjustment marks, parallel file lines made at the Mint. The 1795 coins include varieties with two leaves or three leaves under each wing of the eagle. Specialists identify the die pairs by Overton numbers.

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Flowing Hair Half Dime: The first half dimes

The half dime was one of the denominations created by the Coinage Act of 1792. A small number of half dismes were made in 1792, but regular half dimes began only with the Flowing Hair design. Robert Scot's Liberty faces right with long hair falling freely down her neck. Fifteen stars surround her, eight on the left and seven on the right. The reverse has a small eagle with spread wings inside a wreath and the words UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. There is no denomination on the coin.

Mint records show 86,416 half dimes delivered in 1795. Of those, 7,756 are attributed to dies dated 1794 and 78,660 to dies dated 1795. The 1794 coins were struck in 1795 from dies prepared the year before. Both dates are struck in 1.35 grams of silver 0.8924 fine, about 16.5 millimeters across, with a reeded edge. All were made at Philadelphia on a screw press.

Critics did not like the portrait or the eagle and the design was replaced by the Draped Bust in 1796. For collectors, the Flowing Hair half dime is a two-year type and every example carries a strong collector premium. The 1794 is much scarcer than the 1795. Many survivors are worn and some show adjustment marks, fine lines where the planchet was filed to the correct weight before striking. Counterfeits exist, so have any example authenticated.

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