THE HALF DOLLAR

THE WORKHORSE OF THE MARKETPLACE nowadays is the quarter dollar but this was not always true. Some of our readers will remember the 1950s and early 1960s when the use of half dollars was very common and they were seen nearly as often as the quarter. The older generation at that time sometimes called them “four bits,” the quarter being “two bits” after the Spanish coins that circulated in the United States during the 19th century.

The year 1964 was a watershed in the history of the half dollar. That date effectively marked the beginning of the end of the half dollar as a useful coin in our monetary system. At the same time, however, the fiasco helped create interest among non-collectors into becoming numismatists.

The United States monetary system, as enshrined into law in 1792, used the famous Spanish milled dollar, or Piece of Eight that we know from pirate tales, as the starting point for our silver coinage. Our silver dollar was equal to the Spanish dollar (8 reales) and the half dollar the same as the Spanish 4 reales.

From 1794, when the first silver was coined at the infant Philadelphia Mint, those who brought silver for coinage invariably wanted dollars in exchange for their metal. These dollars were often exported in payment for foreign goods when Spanish