By Arno Safran  from The E-Gobrecht

During the mid to late 1830’s our coinage underwent a number of changes. The first of these began with modifications to the cent in 1835 and again in 1837. In 1836 silver dollar coinage was resumed. It portrayed a Liberty Seated figure with no stars on the obverse. The reverse depicted a soaring eagle in a sea of 26 stars. It was engraved by Christian Gobrecht.

In 1837 the Capped Bust dime and half-dime was replaced by the Liberty Seated no stars type and on the reverse the eagle was supplanted by a wreath. The diameter of the dime was reduced from 18.5 mm to 17.9 mm while the half dime remained the same. In 1838 the Liberty Seated (with 13 stars added) was placed on the quarter and in 1839 it was the half dollar’s turn.

The Gobrecht dollar also underwent further modifications in 1839. Finally, there were no less than five important modifications made to the Coronet type large cent in 1839. These have become popularRed Book varieties among cent enthusiasts.

The reader will observe that among the two sides of the basic 1839 year set shown and directly above there are two different types for the half dollar denomination; the outgoing Capped Bust-Reeded Edge and the new Liberty Seated types thereby continuing the annual parade of transitional date designtype pairings begun in 1837.
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