½ Dollar Columbian Exposition

Features

Issuer	United States
Period	Federal republic (1776-date)
Type	Non-circulating coins
Years	1892-1893
Value	½ Dollar = 50 Cents (½ USD)
Currency	Dollar (1785-date)
Composition	Silver (.900)
Weight	12.5 g
Diameter	30.61 mm
Thickness	2.15 mm
Shape	Round
Technique	Milled
Orientation	Coin alignment ↑↓
Number	N# 4396
References	PCGS# 9296, 9297 PCGS CoinFacts (https://www.pcgs.com/coinfacts) , Greysheet# 10302, 10303 Greysheet (https://www.greysheet.com/coin-prices) , KM# 117 Standard Catalog of World Coins (86 volumes).

See 45 swap offers

View sale offers

Commemorative issue

Columbian Exposition

Obverse

Portrait of Christopher Columbus facing right with the denomination below

Script: Latin

Lettering:
*UNITED STATES OF AMERICA*
COLUMBIAN HALF DOLLAR

Reverse

The ship Santa Maria sailing to the left above 2 half planispheres that divides the date 1493 with a legend around the rim and the date below.

Script: Latin

Lettering:
WORLD'S COLUMBIAN EXPOSITION CHICAGO
14 92
*1893*

Edge

Reeded

Mint

United States Mint of Philadelphia, United States (1792-date)

Comments

This coin was produced for the World's Columbian Exposition that took place between the 1st of May to October 30, 1893, in Chicago, Illinois, which celebrated the 400th anniversary of the arrival of Columbus to America.

According to Tom DeLorey Coinage, May 2016, p. 9, the Columbian Exposition half-dollar "came about when the organization putting on the World’s Fair requested a grant from the U.S. Treasury of $5 million to help build the fairgrounds so it could open." The Treasury, however, gave "only $2.5 million due to the prevailing hard economic times." DeLorey goes on to say that someone "connected with the Fair Authority got the brilliant idea that if the Treasury would provide the $2.5 million in the form of five million commemorative half dollars," then the Fair would need only "to sell the coins for a dollar each" in order to obtain the extra $2.5 million dollars needed. Because of hard economic times, however, "only a few hundred thousand were sold at the premium, the rest were either released into circulation at face value or melted."

Approximately 100 brilliant Proofs of each date were struck.

Manage my collection

Please sign in or create an account to manage your collection.

Date	Mintage	G	VG	F	VF	XF	AU	UNC	Frequency
Undetermined
1892	950 000		$ 29	$ 41	$ 50	$ 53	$ 67	$ 81	32%
1893	1 550 405	$ 29	$ 37	$ 42	$ 49	$ 55	$ 58	$ 68	84%

Values in the table above are expressed in USD. They are based on evaluations by Numista users and sales realized on Internet platforms. They serve as an indication only; they are not intended to be relied upon for buying, selling or exchanging. Numista does not buy or sell coins or banknotes.

Frequencies show the percentage of Numista users who own each year or variety among all the users who own this coin. Since some users own several versions, the sum may be greater than 100%.

Get this coin

Members from this site want to exchange it: landycollector, gmbillman76, Nunnz, Stonehouse, Anon5691, zoelles, Bavariat, RichW, squash70, Andrej-Oslo, Andrey78, the-ferret, RGormanJr, floyd1, SteveV, Evan Saltis, biochbig, frowell, ErieBlues, INHALE02, ShiFFo, Wolves69, codypbann, PogManJakob, drummerboy76, mowc, asteele, HonuAkamai, peterm12772, Jojohd3, hlaxness, eljunquito52, javmaHHut, SK77, smithdn, Griffindian, WD40Texas, CanBird81, bz_nata, robinstit, rmSemrow, Kra11975, CodGod69, Yox, Vfufu

» See the details of the coins available for swap

Numista Rarity index: 6 Search tips

This index is based on the data of Numista members collections. It ranges from 0 to 100, 0 meaning a very common coin or banknote and 100 meaning a rare coin or banknote among Numista members.

Bullion value: USD 26.37 Search tips

This value is given for information purpose only. It is based on a price of silver at 2344 USD/kg. Numista does not buy or sell coins or metal.

Actual silver weight: 0.362 oz

Current silver price: 72.89 USD/oz (see silver price

)

Past sales

Pictures	Sale	Date	Version	Grade	Sold price
	Katz Auction 126 Lot 2313	18 May 2024	1892 – PCGS# 9296, Greysheet# 10302	AU	USD 42.94 (EUR 37.00) (+ buyer's premium)
© Katz Coins Notes & Supplies Corp.
	Katz Auction 123 Lot 2002	27 Apr 2024	1892 – PCGS# 9296, Greysheet# 10302	XF	USD 26.69 (EUR 23.00) (+ buyer's premium)
© Katz Coins Notes & Supplies Corp.
	Katz Auction 114 Lot 2339	24 Feb 2024	1892 – PCGS# 9296, Greysheet# 10302	XF	USD 40.62 (EUR 35.00) (+ buyer's premium)
© Katz Coins Notes & Supplies Corp.
	Katz Auction 103 Lot 2479	9 Dec 2023	1892 – PCGS# 9296, Greysheet# 10302	XF	USD 37.14 (EUR 32.00) (+ buyer's premium)
© Katz Coins Notes & Supplies Corp.
	Katz Auction 84 Lot 1385	27 May 2023	1892 – PCGS# 9296, Greysheet# 10302	XF	USD 41.78 (EUR 36.00) (+ buyer's premium)
© Katz Coins Notes & Supplies Corp.
	Katz Auction 161 Lot 2628	18 Jun 2025	1893 – PCGS# 9297, Greysheet# 10303	UNC	USD 34.82 (EUR 30.00) (+ buyer's premium)
© Katz Coins Notes & Supplies Corp.
	Katz Auction 146 Lot 3565	14 Dec 2024	1893 – PCGS# 9297, Greysheet# 10303	UNC	USD 23.21 (EUR 20.00) (+ buyer's premium)
© Katz Coins Notes & Supplies Corp.
	Katz Auction 138 Lot 3249	27 Sep 2024	1893 – PCGS# 9297, Greysheet# 10303	UNC	USD 51.07 (EUR 44.00) (+ buyer's premium)
© Katz Coins Notes & Supplies Corp.
	Katz Auction 84 Lot 1386	27 May 2023	1893 – PCGS# 9297, Greysheet# 10303	UNC	USD 53.39 (EUR 46.00) (+ buyer's premium)
© Katz Coins Notes & Supplies Corp.
	Katz Auction 69 Lot 3192	29 Oct 2022	1893 – PCGS# 9297, Greysheet# 10303	UNC	USD 60.35 (EUR 52.00) (+ buyer's premium)
© Katz Coins Notes & Supplies Corp.