Do you want to know more about our first Cent; the USA 1793 Large Cent Coins? The first 1793 Large Cent coins were struck bearing Henry Voight's "Flowing Hair" variety of Lady Liberty's bust on the obverse and his "Chain" reverse. To discourage clipping a security edge of bars and a slender vine with leaves was incorporated. There are two major reverse varieties attributed to this designer: Variety I. The legend has the abbreviation AMERI. Variety II. The legend has the entire word AMERICA on it. This major variety has two minor obverse varieties: Variety 1. Periods after LIBERTY and date. Variety 2. No periods after LIBERTY and date. An outcry arose over the "Chain" reverse (symbol of subjigation) and many prominent people declared the obverse to be an undignified representation of Liberty so Voight redesigned the cent. Changes to the obverse included adding a sprig of leaces above the date and enhancing the relief of Liberty's face and hair. About two months later a spray of strawberry leaves was placed above the date. Changes to the reverse included replacing the "Chain" with a single bow wreath. Here's a photo that lets you see the "Chain" and "Wreath" reversesside by side courtesy of coinsauctionhelp.com: http://coinauctionshelp.com/Flowing%20Hair%20Large%20Cent.html At the onset of Voight's redesigning task the security edge retained its bar and vine motif, but later he changed it to a lettered edge. The edges read "ONE HUNDRED FOR A DOLLAR." There are two varieties of these. One has a single leaf after the text while another has two leaves after the text. More changes: Three months later, because of continued and growing objection to the obverse portrait of Liberty, Voight's designs were discontinued. The powers that be reached into the Mint's archives and selected a Pattern Cent design that was submitted by Joseph Wright. Before I continue, let me reveal some biographical data on Wright. Joseph Wright was an accomplished artist in the private sector of colonial America and President George Washington wanted Congress to appoint him to become the first Chief Engraver of the United States Mint. Wright (under President Washington's urging) began a quest in 1972 to create and submit designs for the Cent, Half Disme, Disme, Quarter-dollar, Half Dollar and Dollar. Here's an excerpt from the US Patterns archives. "Wright was in very poor health for the last year or so of his life. His bout with yellow fever was debilitating and prevented him from designing more than two of the coins: the Quarter-dollar and the Cent. " The Quarter-dollar dies were used to strike 1792 Quarters. After creating the Quarter-dollar pattern, Wright designed the Liberty Cap Cent in the late summer and fall of 1793. In September of 1793, he succumbed to his illness. Note: Wright's design called for a thick planchet and the wreath on the reverse has a double bow. It is believed he never saw a minted 1793 Cent. Here's a photo of the Pattern Quarter bearing Wright's Design: http://uspatterns.com/j12p14.html Here's a photo of Voight's two 1793 Large Cent with a side by side view of the two different reverses courtesy of coinauctionshelp.com: http://coinauctionshelp.com/Flowing Hair Large Cent.html And here's a photo of Wright's design courtesy of coinauctionshelp: http://coinauctionshelp.com/LibertyCapRightLargeCent.html Did you enjoy this abreviated version? Clinker
Really great article Clinker. I enjoyed it and now know a bit more about the Flowing Hair variety. Thanks alot.
THANKS a lot of CENTS worth there. I really like this article of yours since I've tried to copy them and print them out over the years. I really can't do that with many of yours lately due to all the LINKs to other places. When I look at the printed out versions, those mean little. This one is the type I like to keep with mostly printable information. Thanks again.
Hi covert coins: Thank you for reading and your first comment on one of my articles. I really appreciate it... To Just Carl: Glad you could use it. Maybe shorter articles are better suited for Coin Talk members... Clinker
To Art: Once again I heartily "Thank you" for reading and commenting on one of my TRIVIA posts...:thumb: Clinker
Here's a better picture of the pattern design which is actually Proposed Coinage http://coinauctionshelp.com/1792quarterdollar_proposedcoinage.html
The first US cent was the 1787 fugio There are four minor obverse varieties of your Varety II. Variety 2 is made up of three different obverses, one with large letters in LIBERTY and a wide date and two with small letters in Liberty and closely spaced date. One of these latter two is the rarest of all the chain cents NC-1 of which ther are only two specimens known. I believe that the strawberry leaf cents probably came first and then the other leaves. This is because examination of the strawberry leaf cents shows that the edge dies are different from those of the later wreath cents and do match those of the first couple wreath cents AND they match the edge dies used on the chain cents. It seems to make mosre sense for it to be chain, strawberry leaf, laurel leaf, than chain, laurel leaf, strawberry leaf, laurel leaf again. The lettered edges only appear on the very last variety of the 93 wreath. All of the 93 caps have the lettered edge with the single leaf. I don't believe Wright ever did a pattern cent design. He did however create the 1793 half cent, and used that design, reversing the head, for the large cent design.
