The Coin America Outgrew: Why the Half-Cent Disappeared

America produced a coin worth half of one cent for more than sixty years. Today that denomination sounds almost absurd. In the early republic, however, eliminating it could have made ordinary prices harder to pay. This documentary follows the United States half cent from its introduction in 1793 to its abolition in 1857. Its history reveals how purchasing power, copper prices, imported planchets, manufacturing costs and changing commercial habits determined whether a denomination remained useful. The half cent did not simply fail. The economy gradually eliminated the job it had been created to perform. This is part of The Coins America Left Behind, TEN’s documentary history of the United States Mint. Previous episode: How the First U.S. Mint Was Built [ADD EPISODE 3 LINK] Watch the complete U.S. Mint History series: [ADD PLAYLIST LINK] Chapters: 00:00 Why America Made a Half-Cent 01:32 Copper Supply and the Large Cent 03:13 America’s First Obsolete Coin 04:27 Copper Creates Its Own Crisis 05:14 How a Denomination Becomes Obsolete 06:42 The Missing 1815 Coin and the Cent’s Reinvention #Numismatics #CoinHistory #USMint