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Coins/ Half Dollars / Early Half Dollars/ 1829
FINENESS .8924ASW 0.38672 OZT13.48 G
Issue RecordWORKHORSEPhiladelphia89.24% Silver1 of 39 issues

1829 Capped Bust, lettered edge Half Dollar

The most obtainable date in the series on PCGS's estimates — 10,000 survivors across all grades at R-3.0. If a collector is buying one early half dollar, this is the date that gives the most coin for the money. The 1829/7 runs 1,750 / 75 / 4 at R-4.7.

1829 · Capped Bust, lettered edge Half Dollar
1829Photography 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
3,712,156
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
3,712,156
What the trade assigns to coins bearing this date. A modern allocation by an outside authority, not a federal record.
ESTIMATED SURVIVORS
10,000
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.
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 MARRIAGESIncludes the 1829/7 overdate
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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 1829
Held in the Archive · behind recorded delivery
PCGS CoinFacts
External authority — not held by OunceDesk · behind dated attribution
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