Values
A Capped Bust half dime is the last early silver five-cent type before the seated figure. This page is a series reference, not a price list.
The mintage chart leaves G, VF, and MS-63 blank. The NGC US Coin Price Guide file retrieved 2026-08-21 does not cover this piece. Do not paste an auction hammer into the grade columns.
If you have one and want to sell it, start with how to sell a coin collection. The Seated Liberty half dime shares 1837 and then continues alone. A Capped Bust dime is the ten-cent coin.
Key Dates
1829 is the restart after a long pause. 1837 is the last year, and it shares the calendar with the seated half dime.
The article names 1835 as the high circulating year and 1837 as the low. Those two sentences are not a nine-year table.
Errors
Partial table. Printing only the high and the low would hide the other years. The chart stays empty until a full year list is cited.
1837 seated coin filed here. Liberty seated on a rock is the next series. The cap and the pole are this one.
Mint mark. There is not one. A letter in the field is damage or a different denomination.
Compare the coin to the NGC Coin Explorer. That category runs back to 1792. We do not host their plates.
Varieties
This is the capped half dime of 1829–1837, already the reduced size. 1835 is the date and value-punch split guides name. A seated figure is the other series.
- 1835 date size and 5 C. sizePCGS lists four combinations: large date or small date, each with a large or small 5 C. They are punches, not two denominations.
- 1836 and 1837 large 5 C. and small 5 C.The value punch comes in two sizes in those years as well. Guides name both. This page does not print a count.
Names follow PCGS CoinFacts and NGC, the same publishers this site already cites. This is a name list, not a price list and not a count.
Mintage
William Kneass’s cap-and-pole half dime, Philadelphia, 1829 through 1837.
| Year | Mint | Mintage | G | VF | MS-63 |
|---|
Mintage: the note under this table names the page that printed each count. These figures are not an NGC Coin Explorer extract and they are not the 1974 Mint pamphlet.
Collector-standard year/mint presentation follows A Guide Book of United States Coins (the Red Book). These cells are Mint manufacture figures, not a Red Book net or melt.
Values: NGC US Coin Price Guide, retrieved 2026-08-21. Guide values, not offers. Not melt. NGC IDs link to the same publisher’s price-guide listing.
Key date names: NGC Coin Explorer. Bold rows are only dates that publisher named.
The chart is empty on purpose. The Wikipedia article prints two year figures and no table. A high and a low are not the missing years. Because the coin is a circulation type, a future table of every year would belong here. A remembered count does not.
The grade columns are empty because this site has no NGC guide extract for this coin.
Specifications
These are mint specs, not what a dealer pays. Wear can take a little weight off. We will not invent a tolerance. This type crosses the January 1837 silver standard, so one weight is not printed. No catalog page used here prints a thickness.
| Specification | Figure |
|---|---|
| Diameter | Not printed |
| Thickness | Not printed |
| Weight | Not printed |
| Composition | 1792 standard silver until the Act of January 18, 1837, then 900 fine |
| Edge | Not printed on a cited catalog page |
| Designer | William Kneass, adapting John Reich |
No catalog page used for the Capped Bust half dime prints a thickness. Diameter and thickness stay Not printed. The type crosses the 1837 silver standard, so one weight is not printed.
Grading
A Capped Bust half dime wears first on the cheek under the cap and on the eagle’s breast.
1837 also exists as a seated half dime. The cap is this coin.
Key Diagnostic Areas
| Area | What to examine | Why it matters |
|---|---|---|
| Cap and pole | The cap, the pole, and the cheek. | Those high points flatten while the stars can still look sharp. |
| Eagle | The shield and the breast feathers. | A smooth breast is wear. A seated figure is the other 1837 coin. |
| Mint mark | The field where a mint mark would be. | This type has none. A letter there is not a mint. |
| Date | 1829 through 1837. | The high and low years in the article are not the only dates. |
Circulated & Mint State
These cards describe this coin, not a second copy of the P-1 through MS-70 chart. The shared numbers live on the glossary.
See graded photos. The photos that show what VF looks like live at PCGS. We do not host their plates. NGC Coin Explorer is another look if you want a second set.
What each named grade looks like on this design.
Poor
Poor
A disk you can still call a Capped Bust half dime if you already know the type.
- The cheek and the eagle are gone.
- The date may be a shadow. Do not scrape it.
- Shine does not make this a better coin.
AG
About Good
You might read a digit. The high points on this Capped Bust half dime are already slick.
- The cheek and the eagle are worn to a blank patch.
- If you cannot read the date without hoping, stay here.
- A 1832 is still this grade if it is this worn.
Good
Good
The date is readable. The design is still mostly an outline.
- The cheek and the eagle are flat. The type is an outline, not a portrait.
- The rim should be full enough to hold the legend.
- This is a worn coin, not a details story.
VG
Very Good
The date is clear. A little life returns away from the high points.
- Some leftover detail sits away from the cheek and the eagle.
- The high points are still tired.
- Do not clean the date to “see it better.”
Fine
Fine
You can follow the design. The high points are outlined, not sharp.
- The cheek and the eagle are outlined and flat — no real sharpness yet.
- The rest of the coin can look busier than the grade.
- The date should be clear. The mint mark should be too, if there is one.
VF
Very Fine
The type is doing real work. The cheek and the eagle still decide.
- Leftover detail sits on the cheek and the eagle. The centers are still the worn spot.
- Marks do not raise the grade.
- A regular 1832 is still this grade if it is this worn.
EF
Extremely Fine
Most of the coin looks sharp. The high points tell on it.
- Light wear on the cheek and the eagle.
- The rest of the coin can look better than the grade. Trust the high points.
- The date should be sharp.
AU
About Uncirculated
Almost no wear — and “almost” lives on the same high points.
- A trace of rub on the cheek and the eagle.
- Luster may still sit in the fields. Rub on those high points is still rub.
- A bright coin with a slick high point is still slick.
Basal MS
Mint State
No wear. The fight is marks and luster, not how white the coin looks.
- No rub on the cheek and the eagle.
- Marks and luster decide how this mint-state coin lives.
- A bright chewed-up coin is still chewed-up.
Choice
Choice Mint State
Still no wear. Cleaner fields than basal mint state.
- Same no-wear rule on the cheek and the eagle.
- Fewer marks in the fields. Luster is more intact.
- White is not a grade.
Gem
Gem Mint State
A clean Capped Bust half dime for this type. Still mint state, still not a story.
- No wear on the cheek and the eagle.
- Marks and luster, not a romance about a date or a white field.
- A slab is an opinion in plastic. The glossary has the numbers.
This page does not invent a PR price grid. The proof numbers live on the glossary.
Copper color designations do not apply to this silver coin. See the Lincoln Wheat cent and the glossary.
Overview
The Capped Bust half dime is the 1829–1837 silver five-cent coin. Liberty wears a cap on a pole. The reverse is an eagle with a shield. John Reich’s earlier idea is the design Kneass adapted, according to the Half dime article. Every coin is a Philadelphia product with no mint mark.
The photograph is an 1829 Capped Bust half dime from the National Numismatic Collection.
This page is a series article, not a shop listing.
History
Half dimes had been idle since the draped-bust years. Production resumed in 1829 on a smaller planchet than people expect if they are thinking of the large early dimes. In 1837 the Mint struck this cap and the new seated design. The seated coins are not rows on this page.
The article’s high year and low year stay in the history. They do not become a chart that pretends the other years were never struck.
Design
Obverse: Liberty facing left, cap on a pole, stars around. Reverse: an eagle, denomination at last readable as a five-cent silver coin of this era. No mint mark.
The cheek under the cap and the eagle’s breast are the high points. A seated Liberty is a different coin even in 1837.
People Also Ask
Why is the chart empty when two years have figures?
The Half dime article prints a high for 1835 and a low for 1837. It does not print 1829, 1830, 1831, 1832, 1833, 1834, or 1836. Two endpoints are not a series table.
Were Capped Bust and Seated half dimes both made in 1837?
Yes. The article says both designs were minted in 1837. A seated figure is the other page.
Is there a mint mark?
The article says every coin in this type was struck at Philadelphia and shows no mint mark.
How much is a Capped Bust half dime worth?
This page does not print guide prices. The NGC US Coin Price Guide file retrieved 2026-08-21 does not include this coin. An auction result is not a guide cell.
Collector Considerations
Date the coin, then look at the portrait. Cap and pole stay here. A seated figure goes to the Seated Liberty half dime page, including the 1837 no-stars coins.
Do not build a table from the two figures the article happened to quote. The other years exist. They are just not printed as a list in the source used here.
The Draped Bust half dime is the previous silver five-cent type, and its chart is empty for a different reason.
A Final Word
The Capped Bust half dime page is a cap, a pole, and an empty chart. The high and the low stay in the text.
An auction story is not a mintage.