Half Dime

Believe it or not, before the nickel, there was a half dime. Tiny and made of silver, the ones above were minted 1838 and 1853. The top image was taken of a half dime from the Fort King historical center in Ocala, Florida, while the bottom two images are the front and back views of one that I found on our farm near Lexington, Nebraska, in the late 1950’s. I was delighted to see the coin at the museum since it brought back a flood of memories.

As a young child, I was playing on a farm trailer when I spotted something shiny in the dirt below. Nope, I didn’t head right down and pick it up, I was too busy playing. Sometime later in the day I remembered seeing it and went back and found it without difficulty. When I realized how old it was I was really excited and added it to my coin collection.

It likely had belonged to Michael Delahunty who originally homesteaded there in the 1860’s, or one of his family members. He had been a railroad section chief for Union Pacific while tracks were being laid on the transcontinental railway. To me the coin was and still is a tangible and exciting connection to some of the remarkable people who came before us.

For other artifacts from the old Nebraska homestead, see https://wordpress.com/post/eskildoodle.com/2187

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