1867 Half Dime Patterns

About This Coin

Struck at the Philadelphia Mint during the Reconstruction era, the 1867 Half Dime Patterns represent the intersection of political upheaval and monetary experimentation. The Mint's engravers explored post-war coinage concepts including experimental nickel and aluminum compositions — metals offering alternatives to traditional silver and copper. The half dime was approaching its end, as the copper-nickel five-cent piece introduced in 1866 had begun absorbing the five-cent role previously filled by the small silver coin. These patterns document a denomination in transition, exploring whether new compositions might revitalize the half dime or whether its functions would transfer permanently to the base-metal nickel. The nickel and aluminum compositions reflect broader 1860s metallurgical experimentation, when wartime hoarding had driven silver and copper coins from circulation. The last regular-issue half dimes were struck in 1873, making these 1867 patterns part of the denomination's twilight period when its future was genuinely uncertain.