The Story of 1815 Coinage

coinz900

The Story of 1815 Coinage

The year of 1815 was indeed a monumental year in United States history. The infamous Battle of New Orleans concluded in January and The War of 1812 finally came to an end in February.

1815 was also quite an interesting year when it came to the minting of coins. The only denominations the United States Mint produced with the date 1815, were the Quarter, Half Dollar, and $5 Half Eagle. All three coins have significantly small mintages compared to prior years because of high gold and silver bullion prices.

Pictured below is a U.S. Mint Record from 1815:

1815 was the first year of the Capped Bust Quarter design, this would be the first time since 1807 that quarters were being struck. There were no plans to resume the production of the quarter, until when in 1815, Planters Bank in New Orleans had deposited a large sum of silver to the United States Mint and requested that their silver be made into quarters only. The only reason the 1815 quarter exists today is because of Planters Bank's special order. 69,232 quarters were minted in 1815 and an additional 20,003 were minted in 1816 with dies from 1815. A total of 89,235 coins were struck using just one die pair. If it weren't for Planters Bank, who knows how long the United States would have gone without minting quarters! As a Bust Quarter collector, I am grateful for Planters Bank, haha! An 1815 quarter is the most budget friendly coin of the three. You can buy a well circulated 1815 quarter for roughly $200-$300.

The 1815 U.S. Mint records do not report any 1815 halves minted, but 1816 records show that 47,150 half dollars were produced in 1816, which is quite odd since there are no 1816 Capped Bust Halves. These coins must have been struck with 1815 dies. All 1815 half dollars were struck with one die pairing and have an 1815/2 overdate, which is also quite peculiar that they reused a die that was 3 years old, instead of using an 1814 die. A well circulated example can be purchased for roughly $3,500.

Pictured below is a U.S. Mint record from 1816:

The 1815 $5 Half Eagle is an exclusively rare coin with only 635 minted. PCGS and NGC each have 3 coins in their population reports. The most recent auction sale for a problem free example was an NGC MS64 that sold for $460,000 on Heritage Auctions on January 8th, 2009.

1815 is also the only year that one cent pieces weren't made, so if you see a large cent dated 1815, it must be counterfeit.

Thanks for reading!

Frank Sawin
18 Year Old Numismatist
@coinz900 on Instagram

U.S. Mint Records are from Newman Numismatic Portal: https://nnp.wustl.edu/library/publisherdetail/51?Year=1817&displayAmt=50

Catbert

Great post and WELCOME!

coinz900

@Catbert said:
Great post and WELCOME!

Thanks so much!

pmh1nic

I now know more about 1815 U.S. coinage than 99.999% of the other people on the planet .

koynekwest

Thanks for posting the interesting story and welcome to the boards!

NSP

Very good post! Here are my two 1815 quarters.

coinz900

@NSP said:
Very good post! Here are my two 1815 quarters.

Sweet coins, I have an 1815 quarter of my own. Such great coins.

coinz900

thefinn

Here are Dan Carr's overstrikes. He used original cents of the appropriate type, so not counterfeits in the sense of creating something from nothing.

AnnW

Very nice! Articles like this one are what makes owning coins interesting.

coinz900

@thefinn said:
Here are Dan Carr's overstrikes. He used original cents of the appropriate type, so not counterfeits in the sense of creating something from nothing.

Dan Carr has made some really neat overstrikes.

Eddi

Very instructive and concise! Thank you for putting this together.

I have an 1815 quarter in my collection as well, and would love to at some stage add an 1815 Half Dollar.

BillJones

Excellent post! It isn’t often that I learn something more about U.S. coinage these days.

ricko

@coinz900 .... Welcome aboard.... Great post... I did not know this about the 1815 coinage. Cheers, RickO

lkenefic

Awesome post, and welcome to the forum!!

FrankH

Terrific post! Reminds me of the days of information over grade guessing.
Bravo!

Wahoo554

Excellent post and welcome. Here’s my 1815 quarter:

Desert Moon

kaz

Welcome to the forum Frank, that was a great read. Thanks!

Nysoto

Great post, I like the use of Mint records as evidence. The NNP is an excellent resource for early US Mint records that used to require a research trip to the Philly NARA.

GoBust

The 1815 to 1816 period was certainly an interesting one at the Philadelphia Mint. Thanks Frank (coinz900) for posting on this interesting topic. Thought I would share one of my favorite 1815/2 Capped Bust Halves from my set...

Its represents half of a nifty 1815 Silver Mint Set. https://pcgs.com/setregistry/mysetregistry/set/114462

WinLoseWin

Excellent post with some info that I was not aware of.

One additional note, There have been two auction sales of the 1815 Half Eagle since 2009.

There was a PCGS-65 in the Pogue sale in 2016 and a cleaned AU Details coin in January 2017.

That info can be found in the PCGS Auction Prices Realized section, which is also linked from PCGS CoinFacts with the "Auctions - PCGS Graded" in the grid. It actually includes other grading services and sometimes raw. A key advantage is that it also includes problem graded coins where as PCGS CoinFacts does not. The Pogue coin result is hiding under the "Show Related Coins and Varieties" section of PCGS CoinFacts because it had the die variety attributed on the holder.

https://pcgs.com/auctionprices/details/1815-ms/8118

coinz900

@WinLoseWin said:

Excellent post with some info that I was not aware of.

One additional note, There have been two auction sales of the 1815 Half Eagle since 2009.

There was a PCGS-65 in the Pogue sale in 2016 and a cleaned AU Details coin in January 2017.

That info can be found in the PCGS Auction Prices Realized section, which is also linked from PCGS CoinFacts with the "Auctions - PCGS Graded" in the grid. It actually includes other grading services and sometimes raw. A key advantage is that it also includes problem graded coins where as PCGS CoinFacts does not. The Pogue coin result is hiding under the "Show Related Coins and Varieties" section of PCGS CoinFacts because it had the die variety attributed on the holder.

https://pcgs.com/auctionprices/details/1815-ms/8118

Thanks for the info, I didn't notice the 2016 sale. I did see the ANACS coin but didn't want to use a problem coin as an example.

Would you mind if I edit the post? I'll be sure to give you credit!

coinz900

@GoBust said:
The 1815 to 1816 period was certainly an interesting one at the Philadelphia Mint. Thanks Frank (coinz900) for posting on this interesting topic. Thought I would share one of my favorite 1815/2 Capped Bust Halves from my set...

Its represents half of a nifty 1815 Silver Mint Set. https://pcgs.com/setregistry/mysetregistry/set/114462

Wow, that's a beautiful coin! Lovely

coinz900

@kaz said:
Welcome to the forum Frank, that was a great read. Thanks!

Great looking coin!

coinz900

@spacehayduke said:

Wow, I love both of them. Especially the "L" counterstamp.

To my understanding, it's still a mystery what the "E" and "L" counterstamps mean. I think the theory that they were given out as rewards for good grades in English and Latin make the most sense.

Thanks for posting those coins.

coinz900

@Wahoo554 said:
Excellent post and welcome. Here’s my 1815 quarter:

That's a stunner! What did she grade? Sharp coin

divecchia

Welcome, and a great first post!!!

I was not aware that 1815 had such limited mintage and that only a few denominations were minted.

Thanks for sharing these facts.

Donato

coinz900

@divecchia said:
Welcome, and a great first post!!!

I was not aware that 1815 had such limited mintage and that only a few denominations were minted.

Thanks for sharing these facts.

Donato

Thank you Donato! I have been a reader of these forums for quite some time. Excited to participate in these discussions.

Wahoo554

@coinz900 said:

@Wahoo554 said:
Excellent post and welcome. Here’s my 1815 quarter:

That's a stunner! What did she grade? Sharp coin

Thanks for the compliment! She graded XF40 CAC.

Kliao

Wow what a read and amazing post. I got my first bust quarter not too long ago (an 1818). This makes me want to go out and find a nice example of a 1815 because of the history behind it.

coinz900

@Kliao said:
Wow what a read and amazing post. I got my first bust quarter not too long ago (an 1818). This makes me want to go out and find a nice example of a 1815 because of the history behind it.

Bust Quarters are great coins, very undervalued in my opinion.

Go for it!

Desert Moon

@coinz900 said:

To my understanding, it's still a mystery what the "E" and "L" counterstamps mean. I think the theory that they were given out as rewards for good grades in English and Latin make the most sense.

Thanks for posting those coins.

Thanks for your kind words. I am not sure any explanation makes sense for the E and L, all of the theories have problems. Why would only 1815 and 1825 (and only one the die marriages of 1825), and it seems only one die state of each, be counterstamped, why are all of them (at least most) MS or AU, and how on Earth have so many turned up if they were distributed to kids in class, or however they were. None of the theories work, which is why it is a great mystery. I want to get matching E and L for 1815 and 1825's but they have to meet my standards and most have not so far that I have had a chance to bid on or otherwise purchase.

Best, SH

lkeigwin

An interesting bit of trivia about the 1815/2 half dollar is that the entire lot of coins struck in early Jan 1816 were paid out to a single customer: Jones, Firth and Co. How often can we trace provenance and know with certainty the original owner?
Lance.

GoBust

That's very interesting Lance. I was not aware of that fact. So Jones, Firth and Company, do we know much about them? That's the first provenance from just after striking them that I've heard beside the 1792 half dime origin story.

Here is my 1815/2 counterstruck with "E". So many theories, so little actual data thus far. A remaining numismatic mystery!

The_Dinosaur_Man

A very good write-up! 1815 and 1816 are my favorite years to cite for the peculiarities of practices at the Mint. If you haven't already, you should send the post in for publication to a numismatic journal.

hchcoin

And this is why I love the coin forum. One of the best posts I have read in a long time especially since it focuses on bust quarters which I collect as well. I've owned a few 1815 bust quarters over the years. Personally, I think there are a lot of these quarters available and the high prices have always puzzled me.

scubafuel

Maybe…but if so can you point me towards a nice one in VF-XF? would be most appreciated!

lkeigwin

@GoBust, I think it was research by R.W. Julian that found the 1815 halves were delivered to Jones, Firth and Co. I don't recall anything more about the depositor except that they were very active in international trade.

Your 1815 quarter is staggering! Some day I want to own a nice Harmony Society quarter. E or L, '15 or '25. Something well preserved and eye appealing. Ted McAuley's 2004 JRCS article was spellbinding.
Lance.

denga

Very good with but one minor correction. Cent planchets, made by Matthew Boulton
of Soho (near Birmingham, England), were received at the Philadelphia docks in late
November 1815. They were stored in the hold of the ship, meaning that they were
unloaded last. All were in the Mint by December 11 and a limited coinage of cents was
undertaken by order of Director Robert Patterson. It is likely that dies of 1816 were used
but 1814 is possible. Full-scale cent coinage resumed in mid-January 1816.

kaz

Link to article referenced by Lance above: https://nnp.wustl.edu/library/book/529781

RCA_Collection

Good Job. Well composed and very informative.
Here is my pair of 1815's.
The half is an XF-45/CAC

coinz900

@The_Dinosaur_Man said:
A very good write-up! 1815 and 1816 are my favorite years to cite for the peculiarities of practices at the Mint. If you haven't already, you should send the post in for publication to a numismatic journal.

That's a great idea, I'll send the article to a few numismatic publishing companies. Thanks for the idea!