1783 Washington Unity States cent

Trooper

This is pretty neat....Where these actual coins? Are they rare?
Tom

dorkkarl

they are not rare, & though not federal issue, they circulated as cents. minted several years after 1783 though.

K S

JadeRareCoin

This is pretty neat....Where these actual coins? Are they rare?

Yes, the Unity Cents circulated heavily in the Colonies. There's quite a story that goes along with this piece, but in a nutshell, the tokens were struck in England and were purposely made to fool the general public. The use of the word "UNITY" instead of "UNITED" was a loop hole to avoid counterfeiting laws. Almost all of the examples that I have seen, including the one you linked, have many lines, like a grid, on the reverse. I have been told that this was done to give the appearance of a circulated coin. Very historic, very interesting and reasonably valued as such. You should buy an example for your collection.

Dennis

Trooper

Ks & Dennis
Thanks for the comments. I saw the coin on Ebay. $170 Bin or start the bidding at $145. Intresting info that you both have provided.
Intresting coin...
Thanks again
tom

JadeRareCoin

Tom, Buy it now! That's a good price and worth every cent. I grade the coin VF-30.

Trooper

Dennis
Even with the scratch? It is an pretty neat coin.... does PCGS grade these things?

Tom

JadeRareCoin

Even with the scratch? It is an pretty neat coin.... does PCGS grade these things?

The scratch does not bother me, but that's just a matter of opinion. They are not rare, so you can find a problem-fee example if you keep looking. Maybe just wait to see if you can find a nicer one. And, "yes", PCGS does grade these.

Dennis

EagleEye

The 1783 date is (edit) not the date of minting, which was probaly around 1815 to 1820. Neat coin, and about as part of the US Colonial series as the "Kentucky" token and other "non-local imports" as Breen called them. These all were made in England.

mgoodm3

Constitution was written in 1787.

Conder101

1783 marked the signing of the treaty that ended the war with Britain. But Rick is right about the time of minting, around 1815 to 1820. The "Kentucky" cent though does date to the mid 1790's.

mgoodm3

Seems like an all too common date for coppers of that period.

EagleEye

I knew right after I pressed send, .. too quick there for me to edit it withou getting caught.

ColonialCoinUnion

joecool

That's a nice coin...

Gemini

William S.Baker in his 1885 book Medallic Portraits of Washington (Reprinted by Chester Krause 1965) list this piece as a B-1 (R-1) Size 18 Copper
all made about 1820 and having one die variety.

Baker comments "All these pieces in this list bearing the date 1783 as well as the Double Head Cent had their origin in England issued either as tokens or for speculative purposes to meet the demand for a circulation in this country.
The portraits on these pieces are purely imaginary having no resemblance whatever to Washington and indeed none could have been intended."

For more detailed info on these pieces see article in the Numismatist by George Fuld issue Nov. 1964 "Origin of Washington 1783 Cents.

dorkkarl

i would wait for 1 w/o the scratch, but i also wouldn't buy an "unc". you'll get a lot more appreciation from the coin in circulated grades. after all, it was minted for circulation, not for preservation. THAT puts you in touch with the era - you'll be able to actually handle the coin rather than mount it up on a pedestal & view it at a distance.

oh, the "gridlines" are indeed "as-struck" on later die states (in fact, most die states)

K S

Shamika

I've never seen this coin/token before. I would have guessed it had been minted in England since there are several numismatic items that were produced in England during the early days of our Nation.

What was the motivation behind these?

JadeRareCoin

What was the motivation behind these?

Shamika, the motivation was to profit from the sale of copper. The British manufacturers of this token could buy the quantity of copper found in each token for LESS than $0.01, so passing these as $0.01 by putting striking them with a popular theme was attractive. Breen suggests that they were aimed at illiterates, due to the use of "unity". I refute that assumption, as I refute the fact that these coins were struck after 1800 as some have suggested. Hey, it's just an opinion....

JadeRareCoin

BTW CCU, you have a very late die state example. Nice.

JadeRareCoin

Trooper, I see that you won the Unity Cent for $170 on eBay. Congratulations. You are already profitable on the coin (I will pay you $200).

To make you feel better, check out this Unity Cent on eBay with a starting price of $795: eBay link

Notice that it is not much nicer than your coin that you bought for $170. I don't want to sound like a nudist or anything, but RAW IS BETTER for colonials.