1792 Washington President Plain Edge Half Dollar

Coin Details

Description

Cataloged as Baker 24, Musante GW-22, Whitman 10680, and PCGS #715, this 1792 Washington President half dollar with plain edge represents one of the earliest proposed designs for the United States half dollar denomination. Struck in copper, weighing 13 grams with a 33 mm diameter, the plain edge configuration provides the simplest edge treatment among the various 1792 Washington half dollar pattern types, which also include lettered edge and ornamented edge variants cataloged under adjacent Baker numbers. The WASHINGTON PRESIDENT obverse legend and portrait bust directly confronted the fundamental design question of the era: should the new republic place its president's likeness on coinage, following European precedent, or adopt an allegorical approach using Liberty figures to avoid monarchical associations? The half dollar denomination occupied a critical position in the proposed coinage system as a workhorse silver coin that would see heavy commercial use, making the choice of design for this denomination particularly consequential for the public image of the new nation. Extremely rare as one of the earliest proposed half dollar designs in American numismatics, this pattern documents the brief period in 1792 when the visual identity of American coinage remained an open question, before the Mint Act's establishment of the Flowing Hair Liberty design settled the debate in favor of allegorical rather than presidential portraiture for the republic's first generation of circulating coins.

Rarity Notes

Extremely rare. One of the earliest proposed US half dollar designs.

Cross References

Baker 24; Musante GW-22; Whitman 10680