Braided Hair Half Cents 1840-1857

About This Series

Christian Gobrecht's Braided Hair design brought the half cent denomination to its conclusion, spanning the final eighteen years of America's smallest coin. The series presents a distinctive collecting structure: dates from 1840 through 1848 were struck exclusively as proofs for collectors, with no business strike production at all, creating a run of nine consecutive proof-only years unprecedented in regular-issue American coinage. Business strike production resumed from 1849 through 1857, when the Coinage Act of 1857 formally discontinued both the half cent and the large cent. The obverse features a mature, classically styled portrait of Liberty with braided hair bound by a coronet inscribed LIBERTY, while the reverse displays a wreath enclosing the denomination HALF CENT. Struck in copper at 23mm diameter and 5.44 grams, late-date half cents survive in relatively high grades because many were saved as the denomination's end became apparent. The proof-only dates from the 1840s are genuinely rare, with populations typically under 50 specimens per year. Braided Hair half cents mark the end of an era — the abandonment of the half-cent denomination reflected the recognition that inflation had rendered this smallest copper coin insignificant for everyday commerce.

Series Information