THE HALF DOLLARS OF 1836-1839
Lettered-edge half dollars struck from 1795 to 1836 have long fascinated collectors. There are many varieties of interest in these early years of the Mint ,and they have been well cataloged by Al Overton. The 1836 change to a reeded edge passed relatively unnoticed, however, and it has only been in the past few years that published information on this short-lived series has become useful to modern-day collectors.
While numismatists today think of the lettered-edge half dollar as something quite special, Mint officials had less charitable views. The edge lettering had to be applied to the planchet before it was made into a whole coin and, worse, the collar inside the coining press had to remain slightly larger than the finished coin. Had the collar been smaller, the lettering would have become crushed and unreadable by the public.
The collar used in the coinage of lettered-edge half dollars is today called an “open” collar as opposed to the “close” collar which placed the reeded edge on coins. The “close” collar is still in use today and has undergone little real change since it was introduced.
In July 1824 Mint Director Robert Patterson died and was replaced by Dr. Samuel Moore, who well understood the need for creating a state-of-the-art mint in Philadelphia. A major step towards this end was accomplished in 1829 when work began on a new and magnificent
