Skip to content
SILVER $69.11GOLD $4,604GOLD/SILVER 66.6PLATINUM $1,887PALLADIUM $1,371COPPER $6.47BTC $77,243SNAPSHOT○
Coins/ Half Dollars / Early Half Dollars/ 1811
FINENESS .8924ASW 0.38672 OZT13.48 G
Issue RecordWORKHORSEPhiladelphia89.24% Silver1 of 39 issues

1811 Capped Bust, lettered edge Half Dollar

The “18.11” punctuated date (Overton O-110) is famous inside the Bust Half Nut Club and is NOT on PCGS's major-variety list for 1811 — the clearest demonstration in the series that the commercial variety list and the Overton die-marriage list are different objects. PCGS publishes no plain-date estimate; the 1811/10 runs 1,000 / 15 / 1 at R-5.0.

1811 · Capped Bust, lettered edge Half Dollar
1811Photography pending
02

The numbers, and what kind of numbers they are

Every figure carries its evidence class. Press a class to open the record behind it — what it rests on, by what method, and what the series says you should not conclude from it.

RECORDED DELIVERY
1,203,644
The Mint recorded what the Chief Coiner DELIVERED in a calendar year, not what it struck bearing a date. Where the registry combines years, the split is a reconstruction and the class says so.
DATED ATTRIBUTION
1,203,644
What the trade assigns to coins bearing this date. A modern allocation by an outside authority, not a federal record.
ESTIMATED SURVIVORS
—
An estimate of how many still exist in any grade, not a count of coins anyone has seen. Thirteen of this series' thirty-nine issues carry no census at all and show none.
DIE MARRIAGES
1811
How many obverse/reverse die pairings are catalogued for this issue. A marriage is a distinct pair of hand-cut dies, which is what makes these coins collectable by variety rather than by date alone.
03

Specifications

SpecificationValue
DENOMINATIONHalf Dollar
DESIGNERRobert Scot (Flowing Hair and Heraldic Eagle) · Robert Scot with John Eckstein (Draped Bust) · John Reich (Capped Bust)
COMPOSITION89.24% silver, 10.76% copper — 185⅝ grains of pure silver in 208 grains of standard silver
WEIGHT13.48 g
SILVER CONTENT0.38672 ozt
DIAMETERNot fixed by statute. The Act of April 2, 1792 specifies weight and fineness and says nothing about diameter; surviving coins run to roughly 32–33 mm.
EDGELettered — FIFTY CENTS OR HALF A DOLLAR
MINTPhiladelphia only — no branch mint existed until 1838
MINT MARKNone. No early half dollar carries a mint mark.
DIE MARRIAGES1811/10, Large 8 and Small 8 — and the punctuated date O-110
04

The primary record

Every document behind the figures above. Where OunceDesk holds a copy, the row opens it.

Report of the Director of the Mint for calendar 1811
Held in the Archive · behind recorded delivery
PCGS CoinFacts
External authority — not held by OunceDesk · behind dated attribution
OunceDeskPrecious Metals IntelligenceIndependent research, market data, tools and coin intelligence for people who take hard assets seriously.