1853 Seated Liberty Half Dollar Arrows & Rays Above Average Condition Rare #0008
The Seated Liberty Half Dollar was designed in 1839 by Christian Gobrecht. During the California Gold Rush there was so much gold being discovered that it actually drove the price of silver high enough that to cause people to melt these coins into bullion. To stop people from destroying these coins, in February of 1853 the US Government reduced the weight of this half dollar from 13.36 grams down to 12.44 grams. To indicate the difference they added arrows next to the date and a "glory of rays" around the eagle. After the 1853 production run the rays were removed because they were causing minting problems. Then in 1856 the arrows were also dropped but the coin remained the lighter version at 12.44 grams. This 1853 "arrows and rays" design was only produced for less than a year and there were fewer than five million originally minted. It is not known how many remain because many of them were still caught up in the melting practices of the era.