US Draped Bust Half Cent 1800 to 1808

These are great coins, Tommy! Congratulations. You say that your half cent is in well preserved condition. That's great. Most of these that you see in collections are dark, worn, and ratty. Sometimes you see them colored orange. This means that they were harshly cleaned with chemicals. If you have a nice specimen, free of problems like scratches, stains, nicks, gouges, and cleanings, it is worth substantial money.

DO NOT CLEAN YOUR COIN. CLEANING RUINS VALUE.

Here are some typical catalog values for US draped bust half cents from The Grey Sheet, a conservative US price guide.

worn (VG): $65 US dollars approximate catalog value
average circulated (VF): $150
well preserved (XF): $300
full uncirculated (MS60): $1100

The VG, VF, XF, and MS annotations are coin collector grades that capture the amount of wear the con has accumulated over the years. Grading coins is a science and an art, and gives rise to many joys and sorrows in coin collecting. We have a side-by-side comparison of two large cents this CoinQuest link. One large cent is VG, the other is VF. Check it out.

The catalog values quoted above must be converted to actual buy and sell values to properly represent actual transactions. See our Important Terminology page for an explanation of how to do this.

Like many old US coins, minor variations in minting can cause values to soar. For instance, a normal 1806 coin follows the value ladder shown above, i.e., $150 in VF. But if a particular 1806 coin has 'small 6 with stems' characteristics, its value goes up to $875. Not bad.

Explaining each variety is way beyond CoinQuest's ken. If you are interested in such varieties, you may be a budding coin collector. Get yourself a copy of A Guidebook of United States Coins by R. S. Yeoman and read all about the varieties and how much they are worth. I started reading that book when I was 10. Now I'm older (a lot older!) and I am still reading it.

Seek out a knowledgeable collector or professional coin dealer to do an in-person appraisal of your coin.
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