American half dollars became very important silver coins used largely for various financial needs of the general public. Our silver half dollar was already the senior monetary coin of the Local United States Mint by at least three full years when the very peculiar New Orleans Mint introduced its half dollar nearly a full decade after our Mint had revised the design format of this particular silver coinage.
The key point of this distinct half-dollar diminished the book-piece status of this half-dollar noted by our two previous writers. The seat of these laws is that the Congress has the authority to regulate coinage since the United States Constitution empowers it to coin money.
This is a research paper on the deep-seated significance of the 1859-O Liberty Seated Half Dollar in American numismatics. Readers will come to recognize that the 1859-O half dollar should not experience disrepute as a ‘generic’ silver coin issue. Low-budget collectors will come to understand that there exists no such thing as a truly generic numismatic rarity. One takes a small liberty of using this numismatic study purposely to illustrate particular facets of the American Civil War in a more general fashion.
There exists no reason not to appreciate the people that produced the numismatic pieces remain for the most part the persons who made our national history.
Background of the Liberty Seated Half-Dollar Series
For several years, Liberty Seated coins have been “discovered” and attention has been placed on die varieties, subtypes, and other features that have long been taken for granted. The advent of specialized research has quantified the scarcity of many of the dates and favorite pieces that were previously regarded as nearly impossible.
One key discovery was William Gray’s discussion of the rarity of unusually high-grade Mint State specimens. This seems particularly true of the half dollars, which generally are scarce in Uncirculated condition, and of which certain dates are major rarities in Gem Mint State. For the first twenty years, the mint was in operation, 1794 through 1815, the half dollar was not coined in great quantities, and few pieces exist. Many are scarce, and several dates are major rarities, including all of the Draped Bust Heraldic Eagle reverse (Small Eagle) issues before 1801.
