The Early
Half Dollars
James P. Rice Jr. · 9 chapters · 11,068 words
BOOKS
Contents
- The Second DeliveryPDF · EPUBDecember 1, 1794: 5,300 half dollars, from eleven pairs of dies — the Mint's second silver delivery ever, and the start of forty-two years.
- The Coin That Did the Dollar's WorkPDF · EPUBIn 1805 somebody entitled to the highest respect chose the half dollar, for a reason that could not work — and eighty-four million coins followed.
- Six Hundred Dollars a YearPDF · EPUBJohn Reich was hired by letter to stop him leaving the country. His new dies carried American silver for thirty years.
- A Barrel of AshesPDF · EPUBNo half dollar is dated 1816, and the cause is known to the hour: two in the morning, January 11 — and a neighbor's hearth ashes against a wooden wall.
- The Ledger, TwicePDF · EPUBThe registry's ghosts come in fours here — and one of them, 188,234, is still printed in every price guide.
- The Way of Seeing, in HalvesPDF · EPUBThree axes, one of them yours alone — and a chain of looking that runs from an 1881 auction catalogue to a club that counts in marriages.
- The Commune's VaultPDF · EPUBA celibate religious commune banked 117,184 early half dollars, sealed them through the melt, and accidentally founded die-variety collecting.
- Look AgainPDF · EPUBThe best-preserved “1804” half dollar is a fake of a coin that never existed — and the rarest genuine variety was discovered four times. One skill, two payoffs.
- Collecting the WorkhorsePDF · EPUBThe American Series' first truly attainable guide: a series you can actually have, with its walls named honestly.
- About the EvidencePDF · EPUB
ARCHIVE
Edition record
No corrections have been recorded against this edition. The Books repository keeps a CORRECTIONS.md per volume and this one is empty — which is a statement about the edition, not an omission from this page. The edition number changes whenever the text does.