The year 1796 was unique one for the first Philadelphia Mint. It is the only year in which you can collect a set of all 10 denominations that were issued under the Coinage Act of 1792 with the same date. There are are also collectors who think that the mint made a set of "Proof coins" for that year. Many years ago there was a collector, who got the nickname, "Mr. 1796," who tired to assembel such a set. Before you rush out to form this set, I'll warn you that the half cent, half dollar and all the gold coins are very hard to find, much less pay for. The cents issued in 1796 offer an example of how the first mint operated. At the beginning of the year, all have the cents had the date, 1795. During 1795, the mint only made gold and silver coins until October. The reason was Congress with threatening to close the mint if it didn't start issuing more gold and silver coins. The rollers which were used to flatten the ingots of medal were constantly breaking down. Therefore the mint concentrated on gold and silver until the end of the year. When the mint finally began making half cents and cents, they had more dies for coins than they needed for the rest of year. The law stated that coins were to have the date they were minted on them, but these were frugal times. Dies were expensive, and the mint personnel were not about to throw away a good die simply because it had the prior year's date on it. Therefore the first cents the mint issued in 1796 were dated 1795. This is a 1795 Plain Edge large cent. It's an early die state so it's hard to tell if it was made during the last week of 1795 or during 1796. Most 1795 Plain Edge large cents were struck in 1796. By April, the last of the 1795 dated dies had worn out. Robert Scot introduced his 1796 dated dies with the Liberty Cap design. The relief was a little higher than it had been in 1795 which resulted in wear strikes in the center of some pieces. The mint ran out of planchets at the end of May. The facility didn't get the next shipment until July. By then Scot had completed the finishing touches on his Draped Bust design for the large cent. This design would be used for the large cent until the end of 1807. Therefore there were three general types of large cents issued in 1796.
Only three years in starting from scratch, these were turbulent times at the mint for sure! Thanks for sharing.
When I saw the title and the author of the post, I knew it would be informative and good. You certainly didn't disappoint! I really enjoyed learning about some of the early workings of the mint. Thank you for sharing your knowledge and some of your amazing collection. You have certainly blessed us by this post, which is just normal for you. Thank you again, sir. I truly enjoyed it.
All of the 1795 plain edge cents would have been struck in 1796. The weight reduction that brought about the plain edge cents was passed in January of 1796 (and backdated into December of 1795) So the plain edge cents wouldn't have been struck until after the weight reduction took place, and the back dating of the order allowed them to explain why there were 1795 cents struck at the lighter weight.
It was my understanding that Congress gave George Washington to power to reduce the weight of the half cent and cent earlier in 1795. He did not exercise that power until the end of 1795. Production of the plain edge copper coins began during the last week of December 1795.
