1853 Seated Liberty Half Dollar - Arrows & Rays

The Iconic 'Arrow & Rays' Seated Liberty Half Dollar

Throughout the history of the United States Mint, the metallic content of the coinage produced was directly related to the Nation’s political and economic status in the world. Many of us can remember the last time this topic came up… the Coinage Act of 1965, which pulled silver dimes and quarters from circulation.

What many do not know is that the very first time the U.S. Mint made a reduction in silver content was in 1853. Unbelievably, they left the silver content itself alone but instead chose to just make the coins slightly SMALLER.

To curb the number of coins being melted for their silver content, they kept the silver percentage at 90% while lowering the weight of the coins by a few grams.

This solved their melting-down issue, as the content was once again lower than the melt value -- but a brand new challenge was created.

The new problem was that public would not be able to visually tell the difference between a 90% silver ‘reduced weight’ circulation strike coin and its 90% silver ‘full weight’ counterpart from years prior -- so the mint had to come up with a way to differentiate their appearance.

The result? Arrows!

The newer, lighter, Seated Liberty coins produced in 1853 and beyond included arrows next to the date on the obverse design of the coin to signify their new weight.

Each 1853 'Arrows & Rays' Seated Liberty Half Dollar will arrive encapsulated and in collector's quality circulated condition.