1794 50C Flowing Hair Half Dollar NGC VF20

Here's a classic coin, the first ever half dollar struck at the U.S. Mint. NGC has only graded 341 of them. There are 113 in VF, with 54 finer. The total mintage of the 1794 half dollar was 23,464.

The first U.S. Mint, where this piece was struck.

Even though the U.S. Mint in Philadelphia was operational early in 1793, the minting of precious metals could not begin until the chief coiner and assayer had posted surety bonds of $10,000 each. Since that was an enormous sum at the time, they could not post bond. A revised law of March 3, 1794, halved the bonds, after which wealthy sponsors were found to sponsor the bonds for both mint officers. Silver dollars were produced first, followed by a delivery of 5,300 half dollars on October 15. Another 18,164 were delivered on February 4, 1795, from dies that carried the date 1794. Workers at the Mint were still learning how to harden steel dies, and the premature failure of dies was a problem. The 1794-dated production therefore required the use of at least six obverse and seven reverse dies currently known to numismatists.