1796 Liberty Cap Half Cent, With Pole

The smallest coin, in its leanest year

The half cent was worth one two-hundredth of a dollar, and the fraction 1/200 appears at the bottom of its reverse, under a wreath enclosing the words HALF CENT. From 1793 the Philadelphia Mint struck it with a Liberty Cap design: Liberty faces left on the 1793 coins and right from 1794 through 1797, and behind her head a cap rides on a pole. The cap on a pole was an old emblem of freedom; it had appeared on the Libertas Americana medal of 1782 and later became a symbol of the French Revolution.

Every 1796 half cent is rare. Standard references give the mintage as 1,390, and one cataloger calls that figure generally accepted. A leading researcher disagrees: 1,390 is simply the smallest of several half cent deliveries that year, nothing proves those coins were struck from 1796-dated dies, and apart from 1793 no one has a precise mintage for any early half cent date. One reference page for this variety lists a higher figure, 6,480. Whatever the number, production was small.

Two obverse dies were dated 1796, and both were paired with the same reverse. One die lacks the pole; it cracked early and struck few coins. The other, with the pole, struck most of the 1796 half cents that survive. That makes the With Pole the coin most collectors mean when they speak of a 1796 half cent, even though in absolute terms it is a rarity itself.

One die, and an open question

The pole on these coins was not part of the punch that sank Liberty's head and cap into the die; it was added by hand to each working die. On the No Pole die it never was, an error one historian attributes to a forgetful die cutter. The With Pole die has its own quirks. Specialist Ron Manley observed that the portrait punch was impressed only shallowly into it, so the lower edge of the cap is very weak and the hair is in low relief, with the third lock looking broken. These areas wore quickly in circulation.

Which die came first is still debated. Ebenezer Gilbert, in his early twentieth-century variety reference, listed the With Pole first; Roger Cohen and Walter Breen both put the No Pole first. One cataloger believes the cracked No Pole die was used first as a stopgap until the well-made With Pole die was ready; a 2013 news report gives the same order. Manley noted that the With Pole shares its shallow-portrait features only with the 1797 Cohen-1 variety, which is believed to have followed it directly.

Who designed the type is also reported differently. One grading service credits John Smith Gardner; another credits Robert Scot with both sides.

America in 1796

The country spending these coins was twenty years old. On February 29, 1796, ratifications of the Jay Treaty with Britain were exchanged, and in July the United States took possession of Detroit under its terms. Tennessee entered the Union as the sixteenth state on June 1. That July, surveyors in Ohio named a settlement Cleveland after Moses Cleaveland, the head of their party.

On September 17, President George Washington issued his Farewell Address, warning against partisan politics and foreign entanglements. That fall John Adams defeated Thomas Jefferson for the presidency, and on November 4 the Treaty of Tripoli was signed. A financial panic began in 1796 and ran into 1797.

From English cabinets to record sales

Some of the best 1796 half cents of both varieties were found in England, where such coins were collected in the late 1700s, before coin collecting caught on in the United States. One auction cataloger's 2018 census of ten Mint State With Pole coins noted that at least four of them had surfaced in England in the previous 30 years.

The coin featured here, now PCGS MS66 Red Brown, came from an old English collection and passed through London to the United States, where it was sold privately in 1992. It went through the collections of Gene Reale and John Whitney Walter, sold at auction for $132,250 in October 2000, and joined the collection of D. Brent Pogue. On February 9, 2016, it sold at auction for $470,000. The catalog for that sale observed that a half cent collection is often judged by its 1796, adding that one in Uncirculated condition 'is found in only the very finest cabinets.'

Its rival in the census has an American pedigree going back to Howard Rounds Newcomb, who valued it at $710. It was sold privately in 1935, entered the vast collection of 'Colonel' E.H.R. Green, and was appraised for his estate at $300 in 1937. In 1943 it passed with Green's half cents to Eric P. Newman and dealer B.G. Johnson, sold at auction in 1954 for $2,300, and later joined the collection of the St. Louis collector known as R. Tettenhorst. Graded PCGS MS65+ Red Brown, it sold for $718,750 on January 26, 2014, in the Missouri Cabinet sale in Los Angeles, the highest price found for the variety.

The strangest discovery came in 2013. Among the coins of Mark Hillary, who as an English schoolboy kept his collection in a homemade cabinet of decorated matchboxes, and who died in a climbing accident in Greece in 1963 at age 20, a 1796 With Pole half cent turned up at the back of a cupboard. Catalogued as Extremely Fine and estimated at £25,000 to £30,000, it sold in Salisbury, England, on January 22, 2013, for a hammer price of £185,000, or £225,700 with premium, reported as about $358,000. A Florida dealer bought it, and also paid $572 for the matchbox cabinet. One later census grades the coin MS62 by early copper standards.

The finest known With Pole, graded PCGS MS66+ Red Brown, also came from England. In the spring of 1997 a gentleman from Northern England offered a small hoard of American coins that included two choice 1796 With Pole half cents. When he consigned the better one later that year, he wrote: 'I must underline this my second and last one. Parting with it is regrettable but such is life.' It was offered again at auction on August 16, 2018, from the Red Headed Copper Collection, described as the finest 1795 to 1797 half cent; its price is not given in the sources found.

How to identify one

The With Pole is attributed at a glance by the pole behind Liberty's head. Under a loupe, the 9 in the date shows faint repunching. On the reverse, shared with the No Pole, the wreath has a single leaf at the top of each branch, four berries on the left branch and three on the right, a berry on the left side of the bow but not the right, and a leaf point directly below the I in UNITED. On the finest known coin, a cataloger also noticed a faintly doubled M in AMERICA, a die feature not mentioned in the standard references.

The coins are copper, about 5.44 grams and 23.5 millimeters across, with a plain edge, a little wider than a modern five-cent nickel. Most were struck on planchets cut from rolled sheet copper, and at least two survivors have mint-made clips. A few 1796 half cents were struck on cut-down large cents, which are extremely rare. Borders are usually weak on both sides, even on the best coins.

Survival estimates vary. One 2018 catalog put the With Pole population at about 75. Half cent specialist Jim McGuigan, interviewed ahead of the 2014 Missouri Cabinet sale, estimated that there are over a hundred, perhaps 125, and a 2024 article put the figure at 100 to 120, with about a dozen in AU or Mint State. Below the handful of Mint State coins, survivors drop quickly to low grades and are usually dark and porous.

Copies exist. Sometime before 1866, Francis S. Edwards struck copies of the 1796 With Pole half cent from new dies. On the copy, the leaf below the O in OF extends well to the left; on the original, it ends below the left edge of the O. Edwards's pieces also vary in weight.

The date every half cent set needs

Collectors of half cents usually treat the two 1796 varieties as if they were separate dates, and the year is the rarest in the entire series from 1793 to 1857. The No Pole is far rarer and more famous, but a collector who can afford a decent With Pole can usually find one within a year or two. Because more than twelve thousand people collect half cents, even well-worn 1796 coins are expensive.

At the top of the market the With Pole has been nearly as dramatic as its rarer twin. A PCGS MS64 Brown example brought $402,500 at auction in August 2012, the Hillary coin about $358,000 in 2013, the Missouri Cabinet coin $718,750 in 2014, and the Pogue coin $470,000 in 2016. Either 1796 variety, in any grade, is still treated as a landmark when it comes to auction.

The numbers

Mintage

1,390 commonly given for all 1796 half cents (disputed; one reference page lists 6,480)

Known survivors

About 75 to about 125 by various estimates; roughly ten Mint State

Weight

5.44 grams

Diameter

23.5 millimeters

Composition

Copper

Edge

Plain

Designer

John Smith Gardner per one grading service; Robert Scot per another

Attribution

Cohen-2, Breen-2

Timeline

1. 1796

   The Philadelphia Mint strikes 1796-dated half cents from two obverse dies; the With Pole die produces most of them.

2. May 1864

   A Mint State With Pole appears in the J.F. McCoy sale, the start of one of the longest recorded pedigrees for the variety.

3. 1866

   By this date Francis S. Edwards has struck copies of the 1796 With Pole from new dies.

4. 1935

   The future Missouri Cabinet coin leaves Howard Rounds Newcomb's collection and goes to Col. E.H.R. Green.

5. Apr 1943

   Green's half cents pass to Eric P. Newman and B.G. Johnson.

6. Nov 1954

   The Missouri Cabinet coin sells at auction for $2,300.

7. 1963

   English collector Mark Hillary dies at 20; the matchbox coin cabinet he made as a schoolboy is forgotten in a cupboard.

8. 1992

   The future Pogue coin, from an old English collection, is sold privately in the United States.

9. Dec 1997

   The finest known With Pole, from a Northern England hoard, is offered at auction.

10. Oct 2000

    The future Pogue coin sells at auction for $132,250.

11. Aug 9, 2012

    A PCGS MS64 Brown With Pole sells for $402,500.

12. Jan 22, 2013

    The Hillary matchbox-cabinet coin sells in Salisbury, England, for about $358,000.

13. Jan 26, 2014

    The Missouri Cabinet PCGS MS65+ Red Brown sells in Los Angeles for $718,750.

14. Feb 9, 2016

    The Pogue PCGS MS66 Red Brown sells at auction for $470,000.

15. Aug 16, 2018

    The finest known, PCGS MS66+ Red Brown, is offered at auction from the Red Headed Copper Collection.

16. Mar 25, 2021

    A PCGS MS66 Red Brown With Pole sells at auction for $288,000.

The world in 1796

• Feb 29, 1796

  Ratifications of the Jay Treaty with Britain are exchanged, putting it into effect.

• Jun 1, 1796

  Tennessee is admitted as the sixteenth state.

• Jul 11, 1796

  The United States takes possession of Detroit from Britain under the Jay Treaty.

• Jul 22, 1796

  Surveyors name a settlement in Ohio Cleveland, after Moses Cleaveland.

• Sep 17, 1796

  George Washington issues his Farewell Address.

• Nov 4, 1796

  The Treaty of Tripoli is signed.

• 1796

  John Adams defeats Thomas Jefferson for the presidency; the Panic of 1796-1797 begins.

Price record

A realized auction price is what a buyer actually paid on the date shown, including the buyer's premium where the sale reported it. It is the strongest kind of reference price, and it is a record of one sale of one object on one day, not a promise of what the next example will bring.

By reference price, 1796 Liberty Cap Half Cent, With Pole is number 42 of 100 in the coins entries of the FLOAT 100. 96 of those 100 rest on a realized sale; the rest carry an asking price or a guide value, and each page says which. Rank within the FLOAT 100 itself (60 here) is editorial: how much an object defines its field, not price alone.

Did you know

• One 1796 With Pole half cent spent 50 years in a cabinet made of glued matchboxes at the back of an English cupboard.
• The buyer of the matchbox coin also paid $572 for the homemade cabinet, because it was part of the coin's story.
• The pole was punched into each die by hand, which is how its sister die ended up without one.
• A Northern England hoard yielded two choice 1796 With Pole half cents in 1997; its owner called the second 'my second and last one.'
• The Missouri Cabinet coin was appraised at $300 in 1937 and sold for $718,750 in 2014.
• The finest known example shows a faintly doubled M in AMERICA that the standard references do not mention.