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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;SuperDave, post: 96962, member: 1892&quot;]You&#039;re right - it didn&#039;t damage any of the part of the machines used to mint. The fire destroyed the smelting (the very first building built by the new US government, by the way)&nbsp; and rolling buildings, without which no planchets could be prepared. No gold, no silver, no planchets, no gold and silver coinage. </p><p><br /></p><p>The cents dated 1816 were minted in late 1815, and thus escaped the fire. As an aside, note that we bought cent planchets from Great Britain - the supply was cut off in 1812 due to the war, and stock ran out by 1814. That&#039;s why there were no 1815 cents. By the time we were able to acquire more planchets after the war, it was felt necessary to get more pennies into production as quickly as possible, so they were minted as soon as planchets from Boulton and Watt (yes, *that* James Watt - Boulton had purchased an interest in his invention and coin production was one direction he took the power of steam - perhaps that&#039;s why Boulton and Watt planchets were of high enough quality for America to be buying them instead of acquiring them from Americans) became available again.[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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