1804 DRAPED BUST 1/2C, CROSSLET 4, STEMS MS65+ Brown

It’s easy to say that the American Half-Cent was the most hated coin denomination in Modern History. Regardless, it somehow managed to survive 64 years in circulation. Among these extraordinarily useless coins one can find Robert Scot’s draped bust Liberty on the 1800 to 1808 mint series.
Though the Half-Cent coins saw many faces in its 64-year circulation, this 1804 cent bears a lady liberty based on Gilbert Stuart’s sketch of Mrs. William Bingham. Formerly Anne Willings, Mrs. Bingham married Mr. Bingham shortly after his return from his produce and arms dealings in the West Indies. The couple experienced an absurdly rapid rise to social fame, which many attributed to Anne’s beauty and William’s wealth and kindness. The two were prominent in the formation of the young United States and accumulated massive, but short lived, success. In fact, Mr. Bingham rose to significant power in the US Senate and Mrs. Bingham was easily dubbed a prominent social figure in Philadelphia, and quite possibly the entire U.S. Unfortunately, shortly after the capital moved to Washington D.C., Mrs. Bingham passed away in 1801. Her distraught husband followed her footsteps three short years later.