anybody know? 1793 U.S Mint question
coachleonard
Posts: 995 ✭
Seems I've always heard that the 1793 Chain Cent was the first coin to be struck by the U.S Mint (i'm excluding 1792 issues here), but
I also read someplace recently that the 1793 half cent was the first coin to roll off the presses at the Philadelphia mint. Anybody know
for sure?
I also read someplace recently that the 1793 half cent was the first coin to roll off the presses at the Philadelphia mint. Anybody know
for sure?
0
Comments
bob
What do you coach Leonard?
But I'd kind of like to know the answer myself...
>>>My Collection
Seems I've always heard that the 1793 Chain Cent was the first coin to be struck by the U.S Mint (i'm excluding 1792 issues here), but
I also read someplace recently that the 1793 half cent was the first coin to roll off the presses at the Philadelphia mint. Anybody know
for sure?
Chain cents were first struck in late February 1793 while the half cents were not coined until mid July.
Denga
These were apparently the first United States coins struck on site.
i'm a geek for wondering about numismatic questions like this are.............. oh, 99.9% of females on planet earth! ha ha
"These presses were put into operation in the beginning of October, and were used for striking the half dimes of which Washington makes mention in his Annual Address to Congress on the 6th of November, 1792 . ."
"After a search I found at the present Philadelphia Mint account book No.2 of Henry Voigt, the first chief coiner. On December 17, 1792, he wrote in this small memoranda book: "Struck off a few pieces of copper coins."
December 18, 1792". . . a letter in the archives of the Department of State at Washington that for-ever settled the matter, in my mind at least. The letter was sent by Jefferson to Washington the very next day after Voigt had made his memorandum. It said: "Thomas Jefferson has the honor of sending the President two cents made on Voigt’s plan by putting a silver plug worth three-quarters of a cent into a copper worth one-quarter of a cent. Mr. Rittenhouse is about to make a few by mixing the same plug by fusion with the same quantity of copper. He will then make one of copper alone of the same size, and lastly he will make the real cent as ordered by Congress four times as big."
January 14, 1793 "...The Cent was originally ordered to weigh 264 grains; the Half Cent in proportion; but on January 14, 1793, the weight of the Cent was reduced to 208 grains, and that of the Half Cent in the same ratio, to which weights the coins of that year closely approximate, the Cents ranging from 200 to 212 and the Half Cent from 100 to 106 grains."
"The first regular return of coins from the chief coiner to the treasurer of the Mint took place on the 1st of March , 1793, and consisted of eleven thousand one hundred and seventy-eight cents."
What SGFM found is basically correct, other than the first part about the presses being ready in October, as that is old information about the striking of the Half Dismes. Those had been struck in July on Harper's presses, at Harper's saw shop at 6th and Cherry.
John Harper sold most of his coining equipment to the new U S Mint in August of 1792. This included more than one screw press.
The silver center cents were struck on December 17th in the newly constructed and finally operational rear smelting building on Bone Alley. The press used was small enough to be transported by hand for this temporary set-up. These pieces were struck in this building as Voigt had to have the silver heated up initially to insert the "plug" into the copper planchet before striking.
As mentioned in my reply earlier, these were the first pieces of coinage produced at the new US Mint facility.
More about the construction of the US Mint will be forthcoming in a new book about Frank Stewart; authored by Len Augsburger (Coinosaurus) and Joel Orosz.
To find out more about the first US Mint and the activities therein, you can always order a copy of my book "Henry Voigt and Others, Involved in America's Early Coinage". Just pm me for details.
<< <i>The reference to "on site" means the location of the first US Mint on the Seventh St. property, which had been purchased in July 1792.
What SGFM found is basically correct, other than the first part about the presses being ready in October, as that is old information about the striking of the Half Dismes. Those had been struck in July on Harper's presses, at Harper's saw shop at 6th and Cherry.
John Harper sold most of his coining equipment to the new U S Mint in August of 1792. This included more than one screw press.
The silver center cents were struck on December 17th in the newly constructed and finally operational rear smelting building on Bone Alley. The press used was small enough to be transported by hand for this temporary set-up. These pieces were struck in this building as Voigt had to have the silver heated up initially to insert the "plug" into the copper planchet before striking.
As mentioned in my reply earlier, these were the first pieces of coinage produced at the new US Mint facility.
More about the construction of the US Mint will be forthcoming in a new book about Frank Stewart; authored by Len Augsburger (Coinosaurus) and Joel Orosz.
To find out more about the first US Mint and the activities therein, you can always order a copy of my book "Henry Voigt and Others, Involved in America's Early Coinage". Just pm me for details. >>
Thanks for adding those details.
http://www.us-coin-values-advisor.com/the-first-US-mint.html
I could correct at least a half dozen errors in the first portion alone.
Most of what is presented by "experts" is merely copied and paraphrased from previous writings. You find it most everywhere.
Unfortunately, those who copy do not do any original research.
<< <i>For those who read and believe what they see online, in links such as posted above, they will be in the same league as other collectors that have relied heavily upon mis-information.
I could correct at least a half dozen errors in the first portion alone.
Most of what is presented by "experts" is merely copied and paraphrased from previous writings. You find it most everywhere.
Unfortunately, those who copy do not do any original research. >>
I see the link references in laudatory terms Don Taxay's 1966 (pre-internet) book titled the U.S. Mint and Coinage. Is that a source you find to be historically accurate?
Having been criticized by other "critics" for being the first to challenge Taxay's work (briefly I might add) I will defer to what Stanley Apfelbaum (president of FCI and the only person to hire both Breen & Taxay) had to say about Taxay after 6 months of working for FCI back in the mid-1970s.
In the September 1975 issue of the FCI Advisory, Apfelbaum wrote "Don Taxay is perhaps the best known numismatic lecturer and author in all the world. His works are incomparable. Without his books, the professional dealer and sophisticated numismatist could not possibly build a worthwhile business or a worthwhile collection." (whew...there's more...need I continue?)
Two months later, in the November 1975 issue of the FCI Advisory, Apfelbaum wrote "Don Taxay has a fine mind but his heart was never with his customers, nor the company. His resignation did not come as a surprise. His "cheap shots" at FCI were undeservered and the telephone calls received by various members of our firm from various collectors confirmed the fact Taxay has only cheapened himself. Whatever integrity Taxay had built through the channels of advertising and public relations when with FCI, this has been damaged horribly by his blatant ego trip combined with his cheap commercialism. " Taxay was replaced by George Mallis. Apfelbaum wrote "George Mallis is our type of man. Don Taxay is not."
Taxay then returned to Poona India and became a Rajneeshee cultist, never again to enter the realm of American numismatics. Type in "Don Taxay" in the forum search engine to read more about what I and others wrote in the E-Sylum a few years back.
I grew up with Breen & Taxay. It took a long time to realize that most of what I learned from them was inaccurate.
"Everything is on its way to somewhere. Everything." - George Malley, Phenomenon
http://www.american-legacy-coins.com