Fort Point Capped Bust Reeded Edge Half Basic Set 的钱币相册
An early die state coin with generally sharp stars and a very original look, GR-1 Rarity-2 The only known variety for the date. Total Mintage: approximately 5,000 pieces. Famous for being an ultra low-mintage regular issue half dollar and also for being the first half dollar struck using the steam press which granted the eponymous reeded edge. The steam coining press was new technology for the United States and along with vastly increased production capabilities, it allowed for a upgraded security feature to discourage the shaving or clipping of a coin's edge for small amounts of metal. With steam power in effect, enough force was present for a planchet to be able to be struck within a collar, thus imparting reeding onto the edge as the metal flowed up into the dies and out into the collar; an all-in-one seamless process. For their predecessors, the Capped Bust lettered edge half dollars, planchets would first need to be prepared by applying lettering to the edges via a castaing machine. Afterwards, the obverse and reverse could be struck by screw press, though in my mind "squeezed" feels like more of an appropriate term. In any case, the production improvements were a game-changer for the United States Mint. With the screw press two workers could produce 12 coins a minute. With the steam press, 100 coins a minute were produced by just a single person. It was this increased production rate along with the opening of new branches that finally allowed the U.S. Mint to produce enough coinage to meet the demands of our nation, eventually leading to less reliance on foreign coinage and then culminating in the coinage act of 1857 which repealed legislation allowing the use of foreign coins as legal tender.
