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1/2 Dollar 'Seated Liberty Half Dollar' without date arrows
| Issuer | United States Mint |
|---|---|
| Year | 1856-1866 |
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| Value | 1/2 Dollar = 50 Cents (1/2 USD) |
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| Composition | Log in to see details |
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| Obverse description | The allegorical figure of Liberty is depicted seated left upon a rock, draped in flowing classical robes, her head turned to face left with hair gathered in a loose braid. She rests her left hand upon a heraldic shield bearing horizontal stripes and the inscription LIBERTY on a scroll across its face, while her right hand raises a pole surmounted by a Phrygian cap of liberty. Thirteen six-pointed stars are arranged in a semicircle around the periphery of the field, and the date appears in the exergue below the central device, all within a beaded border. |
|---|---|
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| Obverse lettering | LIBERTY 1860 |
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| Additional information |
The Seated Liberty half dollar series spans one of the most turbulent decades in American monetary history. The Civil War triggered a hoarding crisis so severe by 1862 that virtually all silver coinage vanished from circulation in Union states — not melted, simply hoarded by a public that no longer trusted paper currency. Specimens from 1862–1865 almost certainly spent the war in a jar or a mattress rather than a till.
The arrows flanking the date on 1853–1855 issues marked a congressionally mandated weight reduction. Their removal in 1856 restored the pre-reduction design, which held until the Mint Act of 1873 forced another revision.