1795 Half-Cent Struck Over a 1795 Cent Minting errors were happening even in the early days of US ... discontinued in 1857 due to the high cost of copper and the unpopularity of the half-penny ...

Although most people have never had one in their pocket change, the half-cent used to be a common coin in the US. It was actually one of the first coins ever minted and continued being released ...