1792 - The birth of US numismatics

Discussion in 'US Coins Forum' started by BostonCoins, Feb 13, 2017.

  1. BostonCoins

    BostonCoins Well-Known Member

    One could argue that the birth of American numismatics can be traced back to 1792, and the passing of the Coinage Act in April of that year. This set the foundation of what would eventually become the official US Mint. Granted, there were coins minted in America prior to this (1652 coins, along with state coinage), however all prior coins were minted prior to the official US Mint.

    1792 is rich with history we all learned in school, such as the laying of the corner stone for the White House, the start of the French Revolutionary Wars, the first use of the Guillotine in France, the US establishing the Military Draft and George Washington being re-elected president (December of 1792).

    With the passing of the Coin Act, it was time to decide who was going to run the Mint, and more importantly, what the coins were going to look like.

    As a coin collector my whole life, there has always been one coin that always held the most fascination for me. The famous “Half Disme”. With the lore that the silver used was donated by Martha Washington (history says she donated her flatware), these coins offer us a chance to hold the history of our country in our hands.

    Though the newly formed US Mint didn’t produce any coins until 1793, this doesn’t mean that coins weren’t made in 1792. In fact, there were a LOT of coins produced in 1792 as people were experimenting with different coin designs. As I searched the internet, I found it difficult to find a single source of information that taught me about the early coins of 1792. The Mint apparently kept horrible records on what was produced, never mind who actually designed the coins!

    Before I begin, please know that I use the term “coins” loosely. All coins of 1792 are considered Patterns. They were not produced with the intent of public distribution. The Half Disme that I learned growing up actually had the largest production run (of appx 1500 pieces struck), and were actually used as a political tool by George Washington himself! He handed these coins out to senators, congressmen and other such dignitaries. Though they weren’t meant for general public consumption, they did seem to eventually make it out into the public as seen by the wear on many surviving examples.

    Here’s some of the information I was able to find based on many different web pages.

    Birch Cent – 1792 (Copper, Copper with Silver Slug, Copper with missing Silver Slug)

    The Birch cent is found in three varieties. The more famous variety is the coin with a silver slug inside of it. Why a silver slug? Well, in order to make a coin out of copper, and have the metal value equal the denomination, the coin would have had to be as large as a half dollar at the time. This was deemed as unacceptable, so the designer made it so that the silver slug would be worth ¾ of one cent, and the surrounding copper would be worth ¼ of one cent. Unfortunately, the labor required to make this coin too excessive, so this design was scrapped. Some speculate that the All Copper version is the basis on which the 1793 Large Cents would eventually be made.

    Below is what I was able to find out in regards to the Birch Cent.


    Coin - Diameter - Known specimens

    Birch Cent with Silver Slug - 23mm - 12

    Birch Cent – All copper - 32.5mm - 11

    Birch Cent – Missing Silver Slug - 23mm - 1


    Half Disme - Silver

    This is the coin of legend. Apparently made from Silver donated by the Washington’s, the original run of coins (produced in July of 1792) was approximately 1500 – 2000 pieces. It was roughly $75.00 worth of coins at that time. The intent for these pieces was political and advertising. George Washington would give samples of these coins to senators, congressmen and other such dignitaries in order to show us as a sovereign nation moving forward, as well as declaring that we would be using the decimal system based on 10’s (rather than the Spanish system of 8’s). I was quite surprised on just how many specimens actually still exist. One final note about this coin, the whole “disme” term (originally pronounced deem) was based on a mathematician ‘s theory from the 1600’s that actually developed the decimal system of 10’s. That word ‘disme’ is supposed to be a French word. Perhaps it felt out of favor, but this word is no longer used in the French language at all. It’s hard to even find reference to that word in dictionaries dating to the period!

    Coin - Diameter - Known specimens

    Half Disme - 17.5mm - 250


    Disme – Silver and Copper

    This coin actually surprised me. I didn’t know that this coin even existed. I had only ever heard of the Half Disme. This coin was produced at the same time as the Half Disme, but with MUCH lower production numbers. I can’t really figure out why this coin never had the production that it’s smaller brother did (the Half Disme)

    Coin - Diameter - Known specimens

    Disme – Copper - 23mm - 23

    Disme – Silver - 23mm - 3


    Twenty Five Cents – Copper and White Metal

    This coin has a strange history to it. No one really knows what denomination this coin is meant to be. There have been theories given about this coin for many years. Some feel it was meant to be a Cent coin, and meant to see public circulation based on the coin’s dimensions. The more recent theory (based on correspondence and other such evidence) defines the coin as a quarter. This coin was designed by the same man who would eventually design our Liberty Cap cents (Joseph Wright). Sadly, Mr. Wright would pass away in 1793, never fully seeing his designs come to surface.

    Coin - Diameter - Known specimens

    Quarter – Copper - 29mm - 2

    Quarter – White Metal - 29mm - 4


    Half Dollar – Silver and Copper

    This final coin in my post is ironically actually the FIRST coin produced for the 1792 series. It is theorized that it was actually produced in late 1791. With the Coin Act already drafted, and more than likely going to pass, this coin was designed and produced by Peter Getz. When this coin was submitted to George Washington for approval, he hated it. Why? It had his portrait on the coin. Washington did NOT want presidents on the coin, instead, symbols of Liberty. Washington was so moved by this design that he actually had some of the Coin Act rewritten in order to prevent future coins from having a President on them. Seems strange to me now, where we’ve had presidents on our coins for well over 100 years now.

    Coin - Diameter - Known specimens

    Half Dollar – Silver - 35mm - 5

    Half Dollar – Copper - 35mm - 39

     
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  3. RTScott1978

    RTScott1978 UK/Commonwealth Collector

    This is a great read @BostonCoins. Very informative, thorough, and well written. I was completely unaware of the existence of the 1792 half dollar until now.
     
    BostonCoins likes this.
  4. BostonCoins

    BostonCoins Well-Known Member

    Thank you for the feedback @RTScott1978 ! I appreciate it.

    These coins all have many varieties (reeded edges, flat edges, edges with wording on them, etc...). I considered adding these to the facts, but I thought that was more information than necessary. My intent was more of a spotlight on the coins of 1792 in general.

    I also wanted to include the designers and engravers of these coins. Sadly, only the Half Dollar and Quarter Dollar have clearly defined designers. All of the other coin designers / engravers are up for debate, and depending on which you cite as your source, the information varies! I didn't want to provide inaccurate or 'old' information for this thread.
     
  5. kaosleeroy108

    kaosleeroy108 The Mahayana Tea Shop & hobby center

    great read great read
     
    BostonCoins likes this.
  6. Kentucky

    Kentucky Supporter! Supporter

    Interesting, I have my 1794 cent and am happy...sure like to have one of those above though...
     
  7. kaosleeroy108

    kaosleeroy108 The Mahayana Tea Shop & hobby center

    i wanted to get the 1791 large eagle cent
     
  8. Conder101

    Conder101 Numismatist


    Two words

    Fugio Cent
     
    Dougmeister likes this.
  9. BostonCoins

    BostonCoins Well-Known Member

    Thanks @Conder101 . You're technically correct by bringing up the Fugio Cent.

    When putting together my post, I considered the Fugio cent as the birth of US numismatics. Technically speaking, it is the first 'official' copper coin minted with authorization of the newly formed United States.

    As I researched the history of the Fugio cent, I came to realize that this coin was made under different circumstances. The coins I wrote about were all being done in order to establish and produce American money. The Fugio coins were not necessarily meant to advertise the United States, rather, they were being produced to solve a problem of counterfeit and underweight foreign coins that were circulating at the time.

    The story of the Fugio is quite sad really. The owner of the company that produced the coins, his father in law who worked the coin press and the die maker all ended up fleeing to Europe when they were unable to produce the number of coins as promised in the contract. Congress ended up cancelling the contract and sold at least a barrel (if not more) of these coins to a banker in New York. Shortly there after, the price of copper plunged, eventually leading to that banker going to debtors prison.

    So, in the end, I looked at this coin as not a true 'mint' type of coin, and where the contract was cancelled, I guess I considered the Fugio more in line with our early Colonial type coins (such as the state produced coins).

    That's just on person's opinion though.
     
  10. Conder101

    Conder101 Numismatist

    Yes there is quite a lot to the story. One of the reasons they couldn't make the number they had promised was because they embezzled the government copper, some thirty tons of it, (which they hadn't paid for yet) and used most of it to make Connecticut coppers, which were more profitable to them.

    And there are more juicy tidbits about how they got the contract and what happened to the 300,000 Fugios that they did turn over to the government. I don't know who the Bank of New York got their keg of Fugios from, but it probably wasn't the government. (The Bank of New York still has about a thousand of those MS Fugios.)
     
  11. messydesk

    messydesk Well-Known Member

    I would argue the birth of American numismatics was when the first American started studying coinage, which could have been before the revolution. The birth of U.S. numismatics would have been after. The birth of numismatics as related to coins of the U.S. could have been with the first study or collection of Fugio cents, had someone done so before 1792.

    Nevertheless, nice post! I love the Wright quarter pattern. He was far ahead of the engravers that would replace him. Birch's rendition of Liberty looks a bit like King William III.
     
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