Flowing Hair Half Dollar

The Flowing Hair Half Dollar was only minted for two years from 1794 to 1795 in the Philadelphia Mint. The 1794 is rare with only 23,464 minted while the 1795 is easier to run across as there were 299,680 made.

1794 was the first year that Half Dollars were struck by the US Mint. In recent years the half dollar has pretty much disappeared from the ranks of US commerce, almost becoming irrelevant to the country’s coinage system. That is far from the case the half dollar played in its beginning when it had a significant function and carried a lot of weight. The year 1794 was when US silver coinage began and the half dollar was one of the first three denominations to be issued in silver, along with the silver dollar and half dime.

After completing the first production run of the Flowing Hair half dollars the Mint was ready to make more but its rolling equipment broke down so it could not make the coin blanks the right thickness. The repairs took weeks and as 1794 was drawing to a close, the Mint had around six obverse dies on hand. Instead of throwing them away, it continued to make 1794 half dollars in 1795. When all of the 1794 dies got to the point of being unusable, the Mint then start using dies dated 1795.