I have this coin and not too many people have acurate information on it ,so can anybody point me to the right direction ? Theres lots of controversy on the little info out.
First, it is a medal, not a coin. I'd also like to point out that the coinage press, itself, was not powered by steam, but leather belts were used to transfer power from a steam-driven motor to the coinage press. Benjamin Franklin Peale is credited for the press designs that were used by the US Mint during most of the 19th century. It is difficult to say when this medal may have been produced, but I think it is unlikely that it was struck in 1836. Until the late 1830's, most US medals had been produced in France. In some cases, the dies became the property of the US Mint, while in other cases, ownership of the dies was maintained by the Paris Mint. It wasn't until 1854 that a Medal Department was formally established by the US Mint under Director James Ross Snowden, but until then, the production of medals seemed to be a source of "private" income for the Chief Coiner rather than the US Mint. Production records for such "moonlighting enterprises" (my choice of words) are sketchy. Chris
Here's a link to a NGC PDF on the first steam coinage medal produced by the US mint. http://www.ngccoin.com/pdf/Patterson-Coins-Flyer.pdf
That's great info. Thanks! Now, there are two things which may help to determine if this is an original or a restrike: 1) Is the inscription "The very first" on the edge? 2) Is this made of copper or bronze? It looks like bronze to me, and the originals were supposedly struck in copper. Chris
No I match it up with my unc copper and indeed its copper , just because its kind of gold its not a bright yellow. Its more orange .
It was difficult for me to tell from the article if that "The very first" on the edge was unique to the very first medal made for Director Patterson, or it was on all of the original medals?
This is a restrike. Blow up the images and the images on the PDF from NGC and compare the folds of the cap. they don't match. Since the NGC is an original this must be a restrike.
Its a restrike I know but is it prior to 1901 being its copper ,or after 1901 . I heard there was some Around 1960 also. The original is a maroon color and not brown . Its still a nice piece in this condition .
