Early Half Disme

Welcome to the CCF Pistareen.

Technically not a Half Disme.
This would be a Federal issue albeit early.

Nice coin. If I had to grade from the pics provided, I'd be mid VF, possibly XF.

A little hard to accurately grade.

I would agree with the comments made so far, hard to comment on authenticity or originality of fields from these pics though. Does it belong to you?

...if its authentic has a shot at XF40

I think the coin could make it into the EF range.

Thanks for all the input. No I wish it were mine. I took a picture of it some time after it was dug using a light ring that makes the photo look like a scan, which I used on purpose to bring out the details in relief. I understood "disme" rhymes with "steam." The 1792 patterns said "Disme" and " Half Disme" while this first year of regular issue, 1794, says nothing about denomination, so it may have taken a bit before the English translation of the French "dixieme" meaning "tenth" as it distinguishes a 1/10 Ecu from a 1/12 Ecu "douzaine" became Americanized. Since we are talking about a half of a tenth of a dollar perhaps it would have been called a "Demi-Dixieme" from which we get " Half Dime" in translation?

If you read John Q. Adams report about the progress of America in adopting the Metric System (circa 1820) he reports the federal dime to be virtually unknown in commerce, especially out west (beyond the Appalachian Mountains), with the familiar Spanish bit (12 1/2 cents) and half bit (6 1/4 cents), later called "picayune" recognized everywhere. It took until about 1820 for all the federal dimes ever minted to top $10,000 in face value, yet spread out among a population of nearly ten million, on average only one American in ten could own a dime at the time of the report, assuming the widest distribution. With Half Dimes their low mintage figures and production hiatus from 1806 till 1829 means that on average only one out of every 100 Americans could have one, circa 1825. I understand it was common to receive 6 1/4 cents worth in goods for a Half Dime on the Mississippi frontier, most folks never having seen one before, and not likely to part with it as a patriotic keepsake, unlikely to get another.