My Amazing Artifact

My artifact, a 1795 dated half dollar, is one of my favorite coins. It’s made out of silver with dark, beautiful, toning on the faces and it’s round like most coins. On the obverse (heads side) it has a rather artistic bust that depicts Liberty with her hair flowing free and wild, representing the country’s newfound freedom. Fifteen heraldic six pointed stars and the inscription, “Liberty 1795” encircle the bust. The reverse (tails side) has a magnificent, although worn, eagle surrounded by a lovely laurel wreath and the inscription, “United States Of America.” The rim of the coin is beaded. One of the coolest features is the edge lettering which reads, “Fifty cents or half a dollar.” And if you ding the coin (which you should never do) against another silver coin you will hear a soft pinging like a musician playing the triangle very softly.

This half dollar coin came from my grandmother’s collection, which I inherited from her for my tenth birthday. The collection came from her father, who in turn got it from his father, so it’s been in the family probably since the late 1890’s. This is a very important and special piece of my family and I intend to pass it on to my children/grandchildren. My grandmother had no idea of its worth, so when I brought it to a coin dealer they said it was real and was worth about $2,300, making it the most valuable coin in my collection. I was ecstatic because I had no clue if it was real or how much money it was worth. Being so old we have no clue who might have spent it, for all we know it could have been the half dollar that George Washington spent at the market (although it is highly unlikely). This coin shows my love for history and my goal to complete a coin collection to represent the entire history of our country.

If I were an archaeologist 500 years from now I would have a lot of questions. My first question would be, what is it? By that time all transactions will probably be electronic or if not the coins will most likely look a lot different, be made of alternative materials, weigh distinct weights, and might even be in another currency that does not exist now. I would also ask, who made it? What is it made out of? What is it used for? I want to know who made it because it would help me figure out why they made it and what it’s used for which in turn could help answer the question of what it is. For instance, if it is made of silver then you can guess it has monetary value and that it could have been made by the U.S mint, then you could probably figure out that it was a coin and was used for monetary transactions.