10 Most valuable half dollars

The 1872 CC Liberty Seated Half Dollar is a coin with a fairly low mintage, and unfortunately very few coins were saved.  Most of the examples today are on the low end of the Mint State scale.  This is a highly desirable and valuable coin for collectors.  In 2008, an MS62 graded coin sold for $100,625.

The 1870 Liberty Seated Half Dollar is the first year that the Carson City Mint started producing coins, making this a desirable CC Mint mark year for collectors.  Not many coins were produced this year and there were low mintages across all denominations, which meant that there were many rarities and only a few Mint State examples exist.  In 2011, an MS62 graded coin sold for $172,500.

The 1921 S Walking Liberty half dollar is considered THE key date, and has one of the lowest survival estimates, making this a desirable rarity.  Designed by Adolph Weinmann, this is a popular coin among collectors and certainly valuable.  In 2016, an MS66 graded coin sold for $188,000.

Another coin with a low mintage is the 1878-S Liberty Seated half dollar, the low mintage makes this coin much more scarce, in turn adding to its rarity.  It’s estimated that only about sixty of these coins have survived to this day, though it seems that this coin was saved by collectors when it came out as there are quite a few coins in high grades. In 2014, an MS64 graded coin sold for $199,750.

The 1919-D Walking Liberty half dollar is a valuable addition to your collection, this coin is very hard to find in higher grades, and is the rarest of all the Walking Liberty half dollars.  Unfortunately, when this coin was minted, it was weakly struck, which is part of why it can be hard to find nice looking specimens. In 2004, an MS66 graded coin sold for $270,250.

The 1817/4 Capped Bust half dollar is the most famous of all Capped Bust half dollars, there are only 10 known examples of this coin, with the finest coming from the Eliasberg Collection.  This is an error coin where the 1817 date was struck over the 1814 date, and some of the 4 can be seen around the edges of the 7. In 2009, an AU50 graded coin sold for $356,500.

The 1796 Draped Bust half dollar is certainly one of the most famous collectible coins in the United States.  There are two versions of this coin, one with 15 stars, and one with 16 stars.  During this time, States were being added to the Union, and in 1796, about halfway through the year, Tennessee was added as the 16th State, hence the change to 16 stars halfway through the year. In 2008, an MS63 graded coin sold for $373,750.

As with all the coins in this list, this is another extremely rare coin that is highly sought after.  There are less than 12 known to exist to this day, and only 20 Proofs of this coin were ever minted!  This is certainly an elusive coin.  The 1838 O Capped Bust half dollar was actually the very first coin to be minted at the New Orleans Mint! In 2014, an SP64 graded coin sold for $763,750.

The 16 star variety of the 1796 Draped Bust half dollar is the more valuable of the two, this is the version that had another star added midway through the year, due to Tennessee being admitted into the Union as the 16th state.  There are estimated to be only 40 surviving coins today!  In 2015, an MS66 graded coin sold for $822,500.

The last coin on our list is the 1797 Draped Bust half dollar.  This was the final year of the Draped Bust design on the half dollar, which ran for only two years, and was a short lived but much loved design. This coin had a mintage of only 2,984, and it’s estimated that less than 200 1797 Draped Bust half dollars have survived to this day!  In 2015, an MS66 graded coin sold for a whopping $1,527,500!