Draped Bust Half Dollar, 1796-1807

Riley Poole: What?
Benjamin Franklin Gates: It's just that...the last time this was here...it was being signed.
--National Treasure

As the second year of the Flowing Hair half dollar wound down, the Philadelphia mint received a new coining press. Officials were eager to use the new press to turn out more pleasing coin designs.

The initial changes involved Ms Liberty on the obverse. The original figure was replaced with a different bust rendition of Ms Liberty. Engravers Robert Scot and John Eckstein are credited with the design, although inspiration came from the work of prominent US portrait artist Gilbert Stuart. It is thought that Stuart's portraits of Philadelphian Ann Willing Bingham were particularly inspirational.

1806 Draped Bust Half Dollar PCGS VF35 Pointed 6, Stem

The new design still featured a woman looking right with flowing hair. But Ms Liberty was more voluptuous, and rather than being cut off at the neck like the original Flowing Hair model, she now flaunted a plunging neckline. Her bust line was covered in drapery (thus the Draped Bust label).

Other design features were similar to the Flowing Hair type. Placement of Liberty and the fifteen (sometimes 16) stars on the obverse, the small eagle reverse, and the lettered edge all remained.

Production of this design lasted for two years and mintages were very low--less than 4000 pieces for 1796 and 1797 combined. Because few of those pieces have survived, Draped Bust half dollars from these two years are rare among US coin circulation strikes.

After 1797, half dollar production was shut down for three years, during which time the Mint concentrated on production of the more prestigious dollar denomination (which was done in a similar draped bust motif).

When half dollar production resumed in 1801, the half design was subject to changes made to the draped bust dollar design in the previous three years. On the obverse, the number of stars had been standardized at 13, reflecting the number of original states. It was probably becoming obvious that more states were joining the Union than there was space on the coin for stars.

The big change was on the reverse. The 'small eagle' design, which some likened to a pigeon, was replaced with a larger heraldic eagle adapted from the Great Seal of the United States. The stern, left facing eagle had a shield on its breast. In a break with the Great Seal design, the eagle held arrows to the left and an olive branch to the right.

Because the eagle is looking in the same direction as the arrows, some have viewed it as a warning to France and other European countries concerning the sovereignty of the US (the heraldic reverse was placed on the Draped Bust dollar in 1798 during the Adams administration). But this is purely speculation.

Above the eagle is an arc of clouds and thirteen stars. In its beak, the eagle clutches a scrolling ribbon with the inscription E PLURIBUS UNUM ("from many, one"). UNITED STATES OF AMERICA still surrounds the rims. A lettered edge similar to the Flowing Hair type indicates the denomination.

The 89/11 silver/copper alloy mix and other specifications were similar to the Flowing Hair design:

Diameter: 32.5 mm
Weight: 13.48 g
Composition: .8924 silver; .1076 copper
Edge: Lettered
Net precious metal weight: .38676 oz silver

The Draped Bust half dollar with 'large eagle' reverse was struck from 1801 to 1807 with the exception of 1804. Although dies were prepared for anticipated half dollar coinage in 1804, production never materialized. The 1804 dies were subsequently retooled with 1805 dates, leaving an interesting 1805 over 4 variety.

Mintages ranged from about 30,000 pieces annually in 1801 and 1802 to over 800,000 in 1806. Production got a boost after President Thomas Jefferson suspended dollar production in 1804 (dollars were being exported out of the country and traded for Spanish pesos of higher silver content). In fact, US silver dollars would not be struck again for circulation purposes until 1840. As such, half dollars became the 'workhorse' silver coin denomination in the United States for the next thirty+ years.

The example above comes from the relatively high 1806 mintage. It is a 'Pointed 6, Stem' variety. The top of the 6 in the 1806 date is pointed (it is knobbed in other varieties) and the stem of the olive branch protrudes below the eagle's talon (the stem is left out in other varieties).

source: PCGS Coinfacts

 

This circulated example exhibits a weak strike on the obverse (the hair and date are relatively flat and without relief) but a stronger strike on the reverse (nice detail on the eagle's head and on E PLURIBUS UNUM). Like the example shown in the Flowing Hair discussion, this coin was likely stored in an album or other paper media where it gradually took on more color than one would expect from a circulated 200+ year old coin.

Another example appears below. It is from the following and final year of Draped Bust mintage. Consistent with its higher grade, this coin is much more sharply struck than the previous example. The devices are more pronounced. Plus some nice color here and there.

1807 Draped Bust Half Dollar PCGS XF40 CAC

Both of these coins were struck while Thomas Jefferson was still President of the United States.