1802 Draped Bust Half Cent - 1802/0, Reverse of 1802

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Description

This is the 1802/0 overdate variety of the 1802 Draped Bust Half Cent. Dies were expensive, and a serviceable die left over at the end of a year was often kept and re-dated rather than destroyed: the new digits were punched directly over the old ones. The earlier date survives underneath wherever its strokes fall outside the digits punched over it, which is why an overdate is read from the shapes that do not belong to the date as printed. The effect is in the die, so every coin struck from it carries the same remnant in the same position. Any mintage given below counts the entire issue for this date and mint, not this variety: a variety comes from one die or a few, and how many coins they struck was never separately recorded. The 1802 Draped Bust Half Cent - 1802/0, Reverse of 1802 represents a Philadelphia Mint issue from the Draped Bust Half Cents 1800-1808 series. The 1802 Draped Bust Half Cent issue as a whole had a mintage of 20,266; how many coins carry this variety is unknown. The Mint delivered 14,366 half cents in calendar 1802; the 20,266 adds about 5,900 dated 1802 but delivered in 1803. The obverse features Liberty facing right with draped bust and ribbon-bound hair, designed after a Gilbert Stuart portrait and the reverse displays a wreath enclosing HALF CENT. Struck in copper, weighing 5.44 grams, 23.5 mm in diameter, with a plain edge. Cataloged as PCGS #1057.