Coin specifications and design
Design identification
Obverse: Liberty seated on a rock holding shield and pole.
Reverse: HALF DIME enclosed by a wreath; the 1860 redesign moves UNITED STATES OF AMERICA from the reverse to the obverse.
U.S. Mint coin reference
Liberty Seated Half Dime
Seated Liberty half dime series.
Liberty Seated Half Dime history
The Liberty Seated half dime appeared in 1837 and carried Christian Gobrecht’s seated Liberty design onto the small silver five-cent denomination. Over the next several decades the type went through multiple changes, including stars around Liberty, arrows at the date, and revised wreath designs. The half dime circulated alongside the copper-nickel five-cent coin after that denomination was introduced in 1866. Congress ended half dime production in 1873, leaving the nickel as the nation’s five-cent coin.