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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;johnmilton, post: 26134935, member: 101855&quot;]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 &quot;Proof coins&quot; for that year. Many years ago there was a collector, who got the nickname, &quot;Mr. 1796,&quot; who tired to assembel such a set. Before you rush out to form this set, I&#039;ll warn you that the half cent, half dollar and all the gold coins are very hard to find, much less pay for. </p><p><br /></p><p>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&#039;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. </p><p><br /></p><p>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&#039;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&#039;s an early die state so it&#039;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. </p><p><br /></p><p>[ATTACH=full]1668133[/ATTACH] </p><p><br /></p><p>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. </p><p><br /></p><p>[ATTACH=full]1668134[/ATTACH] </p><p><br /></p><p>The mint ran out of planchets at the end of May. The facility didn&#039;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. </p><p><br /></p><p>[ATTACH=full]1668135[/ATTACH] </p><p><br /></p><p>Therefore there were three general types of large cents issued in 1796.[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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