U.S. Mint coin reference
Obverse: Liberty faces right with flowing hair; a liberty cap and pole rise behind her head. LIBERTY is above and the date below.
Reverse: A wreath encloses HALF CENT, with the fraction 1/200 below and UNITED STATES OF AMERICA around the rim. Edge treatment depends on date and variety.
Robert Scot redrew the half cent for 1794, reversing the direction of Liberty’s portrait after the one-year left-facing issue of 1793. The right-facing Liberty Cap remained the denomination’s design through 1797, although no half cents were dated 1798 or 1799.
The planchet standard changed during the series. Coins of 1794 and early 1795 used the heavier 6.74-gram weight and normally carried edge lettering. A federal weight reduction produced thinner 5.44-gram planchets, and plain-edge pieces followed.
The 1796 half cent is the key date of the type. Production dated 1797 includes several readily visible configurations—among them 1 Above 1, different portrait positions, and lettered, plain, or rare gripped edges. Some dies used for the 1797 coinage are attributed to assistant engraver John Smith Gardner rather than Scot.