Blanchard

Reich’s half-dollar is one of the most highly collected of our nation’s early coinage. These coins were produced with screw presses, and each die that struck coins was individually made with the lettering, date and stars punched into the die by hand. This process led to a huge number of varieties. The myriad of varieties allow the Bust Half specialists to know exactly which die struck any given coin. The issue ran unbroken for 30 years except in 1816 when a fire at the Mint prevented production. Although most of this series was used in daily commerce, their use was quite restricted because their face value was close to a half-day’s pay for a large number of working Americans.