1877 Half Dollar Patterns

About This Coin

USPatterns.com notes that more pattern designs were made in 1877 than in any other year, many of them half dollars. George T. Morgan cut four obverses and six reverses, William Barber five obverses and four reverses, and Anthony C. Paquet a single design. Morgan's last design of the year, J-1509, became the first prototype of the 1878 silver dollar. Many of the pieces described as silver are light in weight, and USPatterns.com suggests some may be silver-plated copper or may have been struck on leftover Standard Silver planchets of 1870. Several numbers listed in older editions of Judd (J-1509a to J-1509c, J-1523a and J-1523b) are regarded by USPatterns.com as misreadings of catalog plates.