USA Coin Book
Half Dime · $0.05
1840-O Seated Liberty Half Dime (1837-1873)
FS-901
Key Features
No Drapery, Small O, transitional reverse [Cross-ref: V-6]
Intriguing History
By 1840, the country was mired in the Panic of 1837, one of the worst depressions the young nation had faced, with banks failing and hard money scarce; President Van Buren's unpopular response gave way in 1841 to William Henry Harrison's month-long presidency and then John Tyler's contested succession. This Seated Liberty half dime, the smallest U.S. silver coin ever regularly struck, was doing its small-change work in exactly this period. This one came from the New Orleans Mint, the Mint's southern branch on the Mississippi River.