Since the half dime had not been struck for more than two decades, there was some pent up demand for the smallest sized silver denomination. The mintage for the first year of issue for the Capped Bust Half Dime series exceeded the total number of half dimes struck across both of the previous series. Mintages would remain at high levels for the duration of the short lived series.
From 1829 to 1837, there would be more than 13 million Capped Bust Half Dimes produced. The annual production ranged from a low of 871,000 achieved in 1837 to a high of 2,760,000 achieved in 1835. These relatively high numbers make completion of a date set of these intriguing silver coins an achievable goal. However, completing a high grade set with original coloration and surfaces can prove to be surprisingly difficult.
Die varieties exist for some dates, which draw interest from specialists. For 1835, the date and denomination occur in either large or small sizes, creating four different varieties. Small or large denominations also occur in 1836 and 1837. For 1834 and 1836 interesting varieties occurred when the date was mistakenly punched into the die upside down. Traces of the inverted 3 are still apparent beneath the correctly punched date.
The table below displays the mintage figures for each issue of the series.
| Issue | Mintage |
|---|---|
| 1829 | 1,230,000 |
| 1830 | 1,240,000 |
| 1831 | 1,242,700 |
| 1832 | 965,000 |
| 1833 | 1,370,000 |
| 1834 | 1,480,000 |
| 1835 | 2,760,000 |
| 1836 | 1,900,000 |
| 1837 | 871,000 |
