<P> Most coins enter circulation through the change drawers of businesses . Few businesses stock their change drawers with half dollars, and many banks do not stock them or hand them out as normal business practice, so the coins do not see much circulation . Most U.S. vending machines do not accept half dollars, nor do payphones, which further curtails their circulation; however, it is the most common denomination used for U.S. commemorative coins . </P> <P> Since 2002, half dollars have been minted only for collectors, due to large Federal Reserve and government inventories on hand of pre-2001 pieces; this is mostly due to lack of demand and large quantity returns from casino slot machines that now operate "coinless". If and when the reserve supply runs low, the mint will again fill orders for circulation half dollars . It took about 18 years (1981--1999) for the large inventory stockpile of a similar low - demand circulation coin, the $1 coin, to reach reserve levels low enough to again produce circulation pieces . Modern - date half dollars can be purchased in proof sets, mint sets, rolls, and bags from the U.S. Mint, and existing inventory circulation pieces can be ordered through most U.S. banks . All collector issues since 2001 have had much lower mintages than in previous years . Although intended only for collectors, these post-2001 half dollars sometimes find their way into circulation . </P> <P> On December 1, 1794, the first half dollars, approximately 5,300 pieces, were delivered . Another 18,000 were produced in January 1795 using dies of 1794, to save the expense of making new ones . Another 30,000 pieces were struck by the end of 1801 . The coin had the Heraldic Eagle, based on the Great Seal of the United States on the reverse . 150,000 were minted in 1804 but struck with dies from 1803, so no 1804 specimens exist . </P> <P> In 1838, half dollar dies were produced in the Philadelphia Mint for the newly established New Orleans Mint, and ten test samples of the 1838 half dollars were made at the main Philadelphia mint . These samples were put into the mint safe along with other rarities like the 1804 silver dollar . The dies were then shipped to New Orleans for the regular production of 1838 half dollars . However, New Orleans production of the half dollars was delayed due to the priority of producing half dimes and dimes . The large press for half dollar production was not used in New Orleans until January 1839 to produce 1838 half dollars, but the reverse die could not be properly secured, and only ten samples were produced before the dies failed . Rufus Tyler, chief coiner of the New Orleans mint, wrote to Mint Director Patterson of the problem on February 25, 1839 . The Orleans mint samples all had a double stamped reverse as a result of this production problem and they also showed dramatic signs of die rust, neither of which are present on the Philadelphia produced test samples . While eight Philadelphia minted samples survive to this day, there is only one known New Orleans minted specimen with the tell - tale double stamped reverse and die rust . This is the famous coin that Rufus Tyler presented to Alexander Dallas Bache (great grandson of Benjamin Franklin) in the summer of 1839 and was later purchased in June 1894 by A.G. Heaton, the father of mint mark coin collecting . The 1838 Philadelphia - produced half dollars are extremely rare, with two separate specimens having sold for $632,500 in Heritage auctions in 2005 and 2008 respectively . The sole surviving Orleans minted 1838 is one of the rarest of all American coins . In 1840 this mint produced nearly 180,000 half dollars . </P>

When did the 50 cent coin come out