5 Cents '1794 Half Dime' Pattern

The 1794 half dime patterns in copper were struck experimentally at the Philadelphia Mint before the silver business strikes of that year went into production. Congress had authorized the half dime under the Coinage Act of 1792, and these copper impressions — catalogued as Judd-15 and Judd-16, which differ in edge treatment — were almost certainly produced to test die alignment and press adjustment rather than as proposed coinage submissions. Fewer than a handful of examples are confirmed to exist across both Judd numbers combined.