Values
A Flowing Hair half dollar is a two-year silver type. This page is a series reference, not a price list.
The mintage chart leaves G, VF, and MS-63 blank. The NGC US Coin Price Guide file retrieved 2026-08-21 does not cover this piece. Do not paste an auction hammer into the grade columns.
If you have one and want to sell it, start with how to sell a coin collection. The Draped Bust half is the next half. The Flowing Hair dollar is the dollar of the same hair.
Key Dates
1794 and 1795 are the only dates. Both are Philadelphia. The reverse is a small eagle.
There is no 1796 Flowing Hair half. That year is the draped bust.
Errors
Adjustment marks. Early silver was filed to weight. Those marks are a Mint practice. They are not a license to tool the coin.
Dollar called a half. The dollar is larger. The half’s edge lettering names fifty cents.
Two dates called varieties of one year. The article gives each year its own total. This chart does the same.
Compare the coin to the NGC Coin Explorer. We do not host their plates.
Varieties
1794 and 1795 are the series. The reverse is a small eagle in a wreath, and the edge is lettered. The variety guides name on 1795 is the legend punch.
- 1795 A over E in STATESThe A in STATES is punched over an E. Guides name it. It is a die variety, not a second denomination.
Names follow PCGS CoinFacts and NGC, the same publishers this site already cites. This is a name list, not a price list and not a count.
Mintage
Two Philadelphia totals from the half-dollar mintage-figures article.
| Year | Mint | Mintage | G | VF | MS-63 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1794 | P | 23,464 Philadelphia. Small eagle. Both years of this hair. | — | — | — |
| 1795 | P | 299,680 Philadelphia. Small eagle. Both years of this hair. | — | — | — |
Mintage: the note under this table names the page that printed each count. These figures are not an NGC Coin Explorer extract and they are not the 1974 Mint pamphlet.
Collector-standard year/mint presentation follows A Guide Book of United States Coins (the Red Book). These cells are Mint manufacture figures, not a Red Book net or melt.
Values: NGC US Coin Price Guide, retrieved 2026-08-21. Guide values, not offers. Not melt. NGC IDs link to the same publisher’s price-guide listing.
Key date names: NGC Coin Explorer. Bold rows are only dates that publisher named.
The chart has one row per year. It does not split die varieties. The grade columns are empty because this site has no NGC guide extract for this coin.
Specifications
These are mint specs, not what a dealer pays. Wear can take a little weight off. We will not invent a tolerance. The weight row is the 1792 standard for a half dollar. No catalog page used here prints a thickness.
| Specification | Figure |
|---|---|
| Diameter | Not printed |
| Thickness | Not printed |
| Weight | 208 grains standard (Coinage Act of April 2, 1792) |
| Composition | 1,485/1,664 silver, the rest copper (Coinage Act of April 2, 1792) |
| Edge | Not printed on a cited catalog page |
| Designer | Robert Scot |
No catalog page used for the Flowing Hair half dollar prints a thickness. Diameter and thickness stay Not printed. The weight is the 1792 half-dollar standard. This is not the dollar.
Grading
A Flowing Hair half wears first in the loose hair and on the small eagle.
The edge is lettered. A plain edge is wear or a different coin, not a higher grade.
Key Diagnostic Areas
| Area | What to examine | Why it matters |
|---|---|---|
| Hair | The loose hair over the forehead. | That is the high point. A drape at the shoulder is the next half. |
| Small eagle | The eagle in the wreath. | This type has one reverse. Heraldic wings are the draped bust. |
| Edge | The lettered value. | Lettering worn down is wear. Do not recut it. |
| Date | 1794 or 1795. | Two years. 1796 is draped bust. |
Circulated & Mint State
These cards describe this coin, not a second copy of the P-1 through MS-70 chart. The shared numbers live on the glossary.
See graded photos. The photos that show what VF looks like live at PCGS. We do not host their plates. NGC Coin Explorer is another look if you want a second set.
What each named grade looks like on this design.
Poor
Poor
A disk you can still call a Flowing Hair half dollar if you already know the type.
- The hair and the small eagle are gone.
- The date may be a shadow. Do not scrape it.
- Shine does not make this a better coin.
AG
About Good
You might read a digit. The high points on this Flowing Hair half dollar are already slick.
- The hair and the small eagle are worn to a blank patch.
- If you cannot read the date without hoping, stay here.
- A 1795 is still this grade if it is this worn.
Good
Good
The date is readable. The design is still mostly an outline.
- The hair and the small eagle are flat. The type is an outline, not a portrait.
- The rim should be full enough to hold the legend.
- This is a worn coin, not a details story.
VG
Very Good
The date is clear. A little life returns away from the high points.
- Some leftover detail sits away from the hair and the small eagle.
- The high points are still tired.
- Do not clean the date to “see it better.”
Fine
Fine
You can follow the design. The high points are outlined, not sharp.
- The hair and the small eagle are outlined and flat — no real sharpness yet.
- The rest of the coin can look busier than the grade.
- The date should be clear. The mint mark should be too, if there is one.
VF
Very Fine
The type is doing real work. The hair and the small eagle still decide.
- Leftover detail sits on the hair and the small eagle. The centers are still the worn spot.
- Marks do not raise the grade.
- A regular 1795 is still this grade if it is this worn.
EF
Extremely Fine
Most of the coin looks sharp. The high points tell on it.
- Light wear on the hair and the small eagle.
- The rest of the coin can look better than the grade. Trust the high points.
- The date should be sharp.
AU
About Uncirculated
Almost no wear — and “almost” lives on the same high points.
- A trace of rub on the hair and the small eagle.
- Luster may still sit in the fields. Rub on those high points is still rub.
- A bright coin with a slick high point is still slick.
Basal MS
Mint State
No wear. The fight is marks and luster, not how white the coin looks.
- No rub on the hair and the small eagle.
- Marks and luster decide how this mint-state coin lives.
- A bright chewed-up coin is still chewed-up.
Choice
Choice Mint State
Still no wear. Cleaner fields than basal mint state.
- Same no-wear rule on the hair and the small eagle.
- Fewer marks in the fields. Luster is more intact.
- White is not a grade.
Gem
Gem Mint State
A clean Flowing Hair half dollar for this type. Still mint state, still not a story.
- No wear on the hair and the small eagle.
- Marks and luster, not a romance about a date or a white field.
- A slab is an opinion in plastic. The glossary has the numbers.
This page does not invent a PR price grid. The proof numbers live on the glossary.
Copper color designations do not apply to this silver coin. See the Lincoln Wheat cent and the glossary.
Overview
The Flowing Hair half dollar is the 1794–1795 fifty-cent coin. Robert Scot’s Liberty has loose hair. The reverse is a small eagle. The edge is lettered. It is the half-dollar mate of the Flowing Hair dollar, and it is the only early half for which this site has both years in a published table.
The photograph is a 1795 Flowing Hair half dollar from the Bibliothèque nationale de France.
This page is a series article, not a shop listing.
History
Half dollars of this design were struck in the same two years as the first dollars. The mintage article lists a small-eagle reverse and a count for each year. Draped Bust halves begin in 1796 with a different portrait and, at first, a very different production story. That story is the next page.
Lettered-edge Capped Bust halves start in 1807. They already have a page and a different chart.
Design
Obverse: Liberty facing right, flowing hair, no cap. Reverse: small eagle in a wreath. Edge: lettered with the value. No mint mark.
The hair over the forehead and the eagle’s breast are the high points. Lettering worn off the edge is wear or a weak strike, not a plain-edge type.
People Also Ask
Why are there only two rows?
The half-dollar mintage article prints one Philadelphia total for 1794 and one for 1795. That is the whole Flowing Hair half.
Is the edge lettered?
This type is the lettered-edge half of the 1790s. A reeded edge is a later half dollar.
Is 1794 the same design as the dollar?
The hair is related. The denomination is fifty cents. The Flowing Hair dollar has its own page, and that page has no year table yet.
How much is a Flowing Hair half dollar worth?
This page does not print guide prices. The NGC US Coin Price Guide file retrieved 2026-08-21 does not include this coin. An auction result is not a guide cell.
Collector Considerations
Two rows. A draped bust is the next half, even if the date is only one year later. A reeded edge is not this coin.
Do not merge this chart with the dollar. The dollar article does not print the same kind of table.
The lettered-edge Capped Bust half is the long bust series most people mean by “bust half.” This page is the hair before that cap.
A Final Word
The Flowing Hair half page is two years, a small eagle, and a lettered edge. Both counts are on the chart.
An auction story is not a mintage.