1801 US Coins: Values & Mintages

The Mint in the 1800s

In 1800 the national capital moved to Washington, but the Mint stayed in Philadelphia. Congress renewed it only for a few years at a time and there were serious proposals to close it and contract coinage out. Elias Boudinot served as director until 1805 and the scientist Robert Patterson took over early in 1806, running the Mint for almost two decades.

Large silver and gold coins were being exported or melted rather than circulating, so the silver dollar and the $10 eagle stopped in 1804 and were formally suspended in 1806. The half dime was not struck after 1805 and the quarter stopped after 1807. The Mint concentrated on cents and half dollars, which became the most useful coins for banks. In 1807 the German-born engraver John Reich joined the Mint and introduced the Capped Bust designs.

How many coins were made in 1801

Counting the circulation issues on this page, US mints struck 1,455,526 coins dated 1801 across 4 issues. That is 50% fewer than in 1800 (2,883,935). In 1802 the figure rose to 3,479,025.

Every circulation coin on this page came from Philadelphia.

Those coins held about 15,473 troy ounces of pure silver.

1801 coins by denomination

Cents: 1,362,837 struck in 1 circulation issue of the Draped Bust Large Cent, down 52% on 1800.

Dimes: 34,640 struck in 1 circulation issue of the Draped Bust Dime, up 59% on 1800.

Half Dollars: 30,289 struck in 1 circulation issue of the Draped Bust Half Dollar.

Odd Denominations: 27,760 struck in 1 circulation issue of the Draped Bust Half Dime, down 31% on 1800.

Every 1801 circulation issue at a glance

• 1801 Draped Bust Half Dime: 27,760 struck, more than 50% of the series' 7 issues, down from 40,000 in 1800.
• 1801 Draped Bust Half Dollar: 30,289 struck, 3rd lowest of 7 in the series, up from 3,918 in 1796.
• 1801 Draped Bust Dime: 34,640 struck, more than 78% of the series' 10 issues, up from 21,760 in 1800.
• 1801 Draped Bust Large Cent: 1,362,837 struck, more than 64% of the series' 12 issues, down from 2,822,175 in 1800.

Draped Bust Large Cent: Engraving errors, the rare 1804 and peak output

Production surged early in this period, with more than 3.4 million cents in 1802 and over 3.1 million in 1803. Hand punched dies produced a run of memorable mistakes: the 1801 Three Errors reverse shows a 1/000 fraction, a single stem and IINITED for UNITED. Cents of 1802 and 1803 also turn up with the 1/000 fraction. The 1803 has small and large date and fraction combinations collectors pair by die.

The 1804 is a classic rarity. The Mint reported 96,500 cents that year, but many of them were likely dated 1803, so true 1804 cents are scarce. A restrike made outside the Mint from discarded dies around 1860 is a different piece. Altered dates are common, so the 1804 is one cent that should always be authenticated. Output fell to 348,000 in 1806, then recovered in 1807, which brings the 1807/6 overdate and the Comet variety with a die break behind the head. Survivors from these years are often dark brown with some porosity.

Some of the best-known early copper varieties come from hurried die work in these years. The 1801 "3 Errors" reverse shows the fraction as 1/000, a single stem on the wreath and IINITED for UNITED. The 1802 "stemless wreath" and the 1803 reverse with 1/100 over 1/000 are other examples. Mintages passed three million in 1802 and 1803, which makes this the most affordable stretch for collecting Draped Bust cents.

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Draped Bust Half Dollar: Heraldic eagle halves

Half dollars returned in 1801 with the heraldic eagle reverse. The 1801 (30,289) and 1802 (29,890) are scarce, but output climbed to 188,234 in 1803, which comes with small and large 3 varieties. No halves are dated 1804. The 1805/4 overdate shows that an unused 1804 die was altered and put to work.

The 1806 is the most varied date, with knobbed and pointed 6, an 1806/5 overdate and reverses with or without a stem through the eagle's claw. Mintage reached 839,576 that year. In 1807 the Draped Bust half was struck early in the year before John Reich's Capped Bust design took over. Heraldic halves are the most available early half dollar type, usually seen in Very Good to Fine with weak stars.

Heraldic eagle halves of 1805 to 1807 were struck in much larger numbers than the earlier dates, so they are the most collectible pieces of the type. The 1805/4 overdate and the 1806 varieties with a pointed or knobbed 6 are popular with specialists, who identify die pairs by Overton numbers. Many coins show adjustment marks, fine file lines made at the Mint to bring heavy planchets down to the legal weight, which are not counted as damage.

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Draped Bust Dime: The heraldic eagle and small runs

In 1798 the dime received a new reverse, while the obverse kept thirteen stars from then on. The new reverse was the heraldic eagle adapted from the Great Seal. The eagle has a shield on its breast and holds arrows and an olive branch. A ribbon in its beak reads E PLURIBUS UNUM and stars and clouds sit above its head. The same eagle was used on the quarter eagle. Because the two coins were almost the same size, the Mint sometimes shared reverse dies between them.

Mintages stayed small. The figures of this period record coins delivered in each calendar year, not coins of each date. Philadelphia delivered 27,550 dimes in 1798, a total that includes 1798/97 overdates and a Small 8 variety. No dimes are dated 1799. In 1800 there were 21,760, in 1801 34,640, in 1802 just 10,975 and in 1803 33,040. The 1802 is the scarcest of these dates.

All of these dates are scarce and collectors attribute them by die pairs using JR numbers, from the standard reference published by the John Reich Collectors Society. When you check a dime from these years, read the date carefully. The 1798/97 shows traces of a 7 under the 8. Then look at the reverse to confirm the heraldic eagle. Most survivors are in low grades with soft strikes in places, which is normal for coins of the time.

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Draped Bust Half Dime: The heraldic eagle arrives

No half dimes were struck in 1798 or 1799. When production resumed in 1800 the reverse showed the heraldic eagle. A shield covers its body and it holds an olive branch and arrows. A ribbon in its beak reads E PLURIBUS UNUM, with thirteen stars and a line of clouds above its head. There is still no denomination. The same heraldic eagle appeared on the dime and dollar from 1798 and later on the half dollar and quarter.

Philadelphia struck 40,000 half dimes in 1800, the largest total of the heraldic eagle years. The LIBEKTY variety comes from a damaged R punch with part of the letter missing, so LIBERTY seems to read LIBEKTY. In 1801 the Mint struck 27,760. Both dates are scarce today but available to collectors willing to look. The 1800 LIBEKTY is popular because the odd letter is easy to see without a magnifier.

Half dimes circulated hard and were often lost or melted, so most survivors are worn. Check the date and the reverse first, then the letters of LIBERTY. Strike weakness on the stars and clouds is normal for the period. Watch for holes, repairs and cleaning, which are common on such small coins. Logan-McCloskey numbers are used to attribute the dies. Like every early half dime, these coins come only from Philadelphia and carry no mint mark.

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