1866s Half Dime

[Whitey9457]

My first seated coin! I've hunted this park a million times but I've been having a lot of luck lately... mostly with pennies and nickels and a few old foreign coins. Not much silver ever... and then all of a sudden a half dime! My previous oldest coin found in oregon was 1881 IHP oldest silver was a barber dime 1893 or 1894 maybe (found in same park) ... so this was a big jump.

I also found a dateless buffalo nickel.

 

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[against the wind]

Congrats on a hard to come by Seated Half Dime.
An 1866s Half Dime starts around $400 and up.

 

[gsxraddict]

Congrats, 1800's silver is worth all the clad you dig to get to them.

 

[toasted]

Awesome find. Dont see much seated silver from the 1860s posted up

 

[scruggs]

That’s one beautiful coin, congratulations!!!

 

[JackalopeZL1]

Nice going, On my List of wanted finds!!

 

[Whitey9457]

I didn't even have it on my wanted list really because i expected to find a seated dime (or a few) or maybe even a quarter before finding a half dime. This one definitely skipped the line. I'm still dying to find a barber quarter.

 

[Whitey9457]

for size comparison:

 

[toasted]

I didn't even have it on my wanted list really because i expected to find a seated dime (or a few) or maybe even a quarter before finding a half dime. This one definitely skipped the line. I'm still dying to find a barber quarter.

Ive only ever found 1 Barber quarter but got loads of seated and some Spanish silver too. Strange how this hobby works but depends a lot on where you live and what youre after. I mostly hunt farm fields in search of older silver

 

[WaterScoop]

Good Looking Coin!

 

[trapperart]

Congrats on the nice little seated half dime

 

[JeffInMass]

Congrats on the amazing find and your first Seated! I envy you west coast hunters for all the "S" mints.

-- Jeff --

 

[Trezurehunter]

Congrats on your first Seated coin. That is a real nice looking one.

 

[sprailroad]

Congrats on the amazing find and your first Seated! I envy you west coast hunters for all the "S" mints.

-- Jeff --

And believe me, we envy all you East coast guys for everything else!

 

[sprailroad]

I didn't even have it on my wanted list really because i expected to find a seated dime (or a few) or maybe even a quarter before finding a half dime. This one definitely skipped the line. I'm still dying to find a barber quarter.

Whitey, I have found a barber quarter, but NEVER a Half Dime. I am envious. Very well done.

 

[Phishfarmer]

Congrats on your great silver find! I recently found a 1866 Indian head penny and thought " the year AFTER the civil war", the very next day in a totally different location found an 1866 shield nickel. They were two of the oldest coins I have found. I guess it's an 1866 kinda year!

Luke 15: “Or what woman, having ten silver coins, if she loses one coin, does not light a lamp, sweep the house, and search?"

 

[Whitey9457]

Congrats on the amazing find and your first Seated! I envy you west coast hunters for all the "S" mints.

-- Jeff --

No mint mark would make it worth considerably more (not that I care about resale value). Apparently the western states were more fond of silver/gold and reluctant to accept the new nickels the eastern states were more open to accepting (gold and silver coins were being hoarded due to the civil war). Kinda odd to think that at this time, the mints made 2 different coins worth 5¢ and 2 different coins worth 3¢ (both had one silver and one nickel version). So an east coast half dime would be more rare but therefore likely more valuable.

 

[Whitey9457]

And believe me, we envy all you East coast guys for everything else!

I recently took a trip to New Hampshire and had a seated coin in the back of my mind the whole time. Never happened. Found a very cool 1881 canadian dime, but no american silver. I came back to Oregon telling people I might have to move back to NH. This coin gives me so much hope about what else is out there now... I still might need to move back to NH lol. But in the meantime.... I've got some hope for some bucketlisters that I had pretty much given up on finding in Oregon (trime, shield nickel, gold coin, etc)

 

[rhedden]

One interesting feature of the "S" mint half dimes minted between 1863 to 1873 is that many of them were made into coat buttons by soldering a shank to the center of the obverse, such that the wreath was showing as the top of the button. For some reason, it is almost exclusively the "S" mint coins that are found with the button shank remnants. Looking a little closer at your coin, you will see that it was most likely a coat button at one time. The remnants of the solder are still there in Ms. Liberty's lap. While you may have preferred to dig one without this feature, it's a cool part of the history of these little coins, and it provides a clue as to how it might have been lost: it probably fell off someone's coat. Very nice dig, regardless of whether you agree with me or not!

 

[Whitey9457]

One interesting feature of the "S" mint half dimes minted between 1863 to 1873 is that many of them were made into coat buttons by soldering a shank to the center of the obverse, such that the wreath was showing as the top of the button. For some reason, it is almost exclusively the "S" mint coins that are found with the button shank remnants. Looking a little closer at your coin, you will see that it was most likely a coat button at one time. The remnants of the solder are still there in Ms. Liberty's lap. While you may have preferred to dig one without this feature, it's a cool part of the history of these little coins, and it provides a clue as to how it might have been lost: it probably fell off someone's coat. Very nice dig, regardless of whether you agree with me or not!

that is so cool! i definitely noticed a black spot there and it almost seemed to be raised...and there are some weird tiny scratches all over that area if you look very close.... at first i thought maybe it was dented on one side and bumping out on the other but it isn't...

i might've been disappointed if the coin was in worse shape, but if it really was soldered into a button, it is again amazing that it is in such nice condition. i'm kinda surprised they used these as buttons. obviously it has worn down in the soil, but it feels like it would've bent if used as a button.

this would also help explain the age of the coin. The oldest coins i have found around here are 1890s...at least 10-15 (indian heads, v nickels, a barber dime, a few foreign coppers) i think i found a V nickel once that was 1880s... but 1860s was a pretty big jump.

thanks for the info though! i love it when i can learn something from my finds. they are lessons that stick with you.