I've always loved early American coinage, it just has that great connection to the past. Some of the coins I've always meant to start collecting were the seated Liberty coins which consisted of the US dime, US quarter, and US half dollar. I have picked up some here and there but can be an expensive undertaking since it's not just one coin but three, and multiple mints produced them so it's not an easy pursuit.
While browsing at the local coin shop recently I came across this beauty. I don't have many seated liberty half dollars but have always wanted to collect them seriously, but many tend to be pricey especially in higher grades. The seated Liberty half dollar was designed by Christian Gobrecht, the third chief engraver of the US Mint. His design was used on much of the US coinage at the time and served as inspiration for the design of the US trade dollar. The trade dollars (meant for international trade) are almost all incredibly expensive as most were melted when traded to other nations.
Here is the coin of the day, an 1853 seated Liberty half dollar:
photos mine
About the coin:
Denomination: Half Dollar
Mint: Philadelphia
Mintage: 3,532,708
Composition: 90% silver/ 10% copper
Weight: 12.44 grams
Diameter: 30.6 mm
Design: Christian Gobrecht
I love the overall design of the coin with a great bald eagle on the reverse and seated Liberty on the obverse. It was an elegant and simple design that graced US coinage up until 1891. I wish they would make coins like these still, more a work of art than a monetary device. The one I have here is far from a perfect specimen, just for reference here is an example of one in mint condition:
USA Coin Book (usacoinbook.com)
Pretty coin isn't it?
That's pretty much it for today, thanks for taking the time to stop on by. If you have any questions or comments please feel free to add them below.
And please remember that collecting coins and stacking gold/silver is a great hobby but definitely not for everyone. You can lose money and you have to research before you make any purchase. Before you spend your hard earned money always do your due diligence by researching what you are buying. I am not a financial advisor and this isn't financial advice, I'm just a guy who loves coins and gold/silver stacking!
References:
Wikipedia
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christian_Gobrecht
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Seated_Liberty_coinage
USA Coin Book
https://www.usacoinbook.com/coins/2611/half-dollars/seated-liberty/1853-P/rays-on-reverse/
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