Obsolete - Half Cent - Bust Design (1800 to 1808) Defender

This special coin is the smallest denomination ever made in U.S. Mint history and is one that many people today wouldn't believe existed if you told them..

They would strike the Half Cent coin from 1793 to 1857 and it had almost as many different designs as the Large Cent!.

The coin itself is a relic of a day and age when just one cent had serious buying power -- so having something to break those coins down with (the half cent) made total sense. However, as time went on, these small coins just seemed pointless and fell out of favor with the introduction of other larger denominations.

These coins are incredibly rare by today's standards -- with the highest mintage across the entire coin's history being just 1,154,572 in 1809.

For perspective, we struck 4,522,800,000 Shield Cents in 2023 -- that is over 12,563,333 coins every day!

Due to their value at the time of their production, these obsolete cent coins were heavily circulated and used frequently in everyday business.

Over time, inflation made these once essential pieces nearly useless in everyday transactions. As a result, very few remain today -- the vast majority of those remaining are already in collectors' personal collections!

Each coin will arrive in collector’s quality circulated condition and in a Defender Holder.