1856-O 90% Silver Content U.S. Half Dollar

Seated with her "Liberty" marked shield near her right leg and a flag supported by her left hand, the image of the seated Lady Liberty can be found on the obverse side of the 1856 fifty-cent piece.

The edge has indentations called "reeding". The reeding appears on most circulated coins that have precious metal content to discourage people from filing off the edges and passing the coins off as "normal" after they've been stripped of valuable metal content.

It contains 90% silver content or about a little more than a third of an ounce of silver.

With silver at $7.26 per ounce that coin is worth at least $2.65 just for its precious metal content. But that coin is worth more than that... a lot more... let me explain.

It was minted in New Orleans nearly 150 years ago. Total mintage was 2,658,000.

That number might seem like a lot but realize that a huge number of those coins were lost, some were accidently destroyed, many were melted down and some were so badly defaced that they were ignored or discarded.

The coin that I examined was graded VG-10 and slabbed by PCI coin grading service.

That double treatment (grading and encasement in a hermetically sealed numismatic container) increases its value in a number of ways:

1. As long as it remains sealed and the case is not damaged the grade can not go down because the coin is protected from wear-and-tear;
2. Slabbed coins are worth more than comparable unslabbed ones;
3. Encasement prevents finger oils from tarnishing the coin further; and
4. It becomes a collector's item instead of another loose coin sitting in a jar or the back of a drawer.

The seated liberty half dollar has 13 stars along the top edge of the obverse, forming an arc around Liberty's image. The 1856 date is stamped below the seated figure.

On the reverse side, is an eagle with wings spread. It clutches olive branches in its right talon and three arrows in its left talon. A shield is on its chest. Instead of stars forming an arc around the top part of the bird, the words UNITED STATES OF AMERICA create the arced border. Just below the eagle is the New Orleans mint's letter "O" and below that are the words "HALF DOLLAR".

The seated liberty 1856-O silver half dollar is a lovely coin.

If you ever have a chance to pick up a graded and slabbed one jump at the chance because they're getting rarer and rare with each passing year.

From Sell Info Products Online dot com (www.sellinfoproductsonline.com) and Basic Drum Beats dot com (www.BasicDrumBeats.com) this is LeBlond, Gerard LeBlond.