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Lack of eagles on reverse of cents
LJenkins11
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I watched an interesting video posted on Coinweek.com regarding the first coinage in the U.S. and the presenter around 11.20 into the video mentioned that cents, legally, are not allowed to have eagles on the reverse. Is there a reason for this? I've attempted to locate the actual law mandating such a limitation but no luck. Anyone have any further insight?
https://coinweek.com/us-coins/1792-a-hub-story-how-the-first-u-s-mint-coinage-dies-were-made/
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Couldn't find anything but this might be of interest:
https://coins.nd.edu/colcoin/colcointext/WashEAGLECent.html
I know that cents, nickels, and dimes are not REQURED to have eagles on the reverse, but I was not aware they (or cents) were PROHIBITED from having eagles.
Enabling legislation for various programs (state quarters, nat'l parks quarters, dollar coins) have exempted those issues, of course.
@LJenkins11
I have not found anything to say it is illegal to have the Eagle on the cent, but it is noted in the 1792 Coinage Act what was to be on the cent, which was the inscription of the denomination. Technically, you could have an Eagle and cent; since the Act did not specifically prohibit the Eagle on the cent. I have not looked into subsequent Coin/Mint Acts that may have changed this.
The following is the pertinent portion of the 1792 Coinage Act that describes the coin designs:
SEC. 10. And be it further enacted, That, upon the said coins respectively, there shall be the following devices and legends, namely: Upon one side of each of the said coins there shall be an impression emblematic of liberty, with an inscription of the word Liberty, and the year of the coinage; and upon the reverse of each of the gold and silver coins there shall be the figure or representation of an eagle, with this inscription, “UNITED STATES OF AMERICA,” and upon the reverse of each of the copper coins, there shall be an inscription which shall express the denomination of the piece, namely, cent or half-cent, as the ease may require.
Source: https://www.usmint.gov/learn/history/historical-documents/coinage-act-of-april-2-1792
I agree that the Eagle was never prohibited from the reverse of the cent, but simply never mandated.
Having an Eagle on the reverse of the cent could have been a temptation to gold or silver plate the coin to try to pass it off as a higher denomination one. Look at the obverse of the Racketeer Nickel and it’s $5 counterpart.
Did more than 5 people get fooled by the "racketeer" nickels?
Did the government quickly perform a design change?
Thank you for the input @Hemispherical
Well, there IS a cent with an outstanding rendition of an eagle on the OBVERSE.
An overall impression from looking at a lot of document spanning 1791 through the 1880s, is that an eagle was a national symbol and was effectively reserved for precious metal coins. Its use on cents from 1857-1858 was derided and caused confusion for the reasons CaptHenway mentioned.
From the late 1850s to the end of Linderman's 2nd term as Mint Director, there were multiple attempts to reserve an eagle only for gold coins. The Congress had no interest in eagle-less silver for denominations of 20-cents and above, regardless of administrative pressure. William Barber's silver dollar pattern, J-1464, is an example of what Linderman and predecessors wanted for all silver denominations.
[Heritage Auctions via USpatterns.com]
PS: Some sources claim this and similar designs by Barber were actually prototypes for Trade dollars. That is clearly false as shown by multiple letters and actions.
"An overall impression from looking at a lot of document spanning 1791 through the 1880s, is that an eagle was a national symbol and was effectively reserved for precious metal coins. Its use on cents from 1857-1858 was derided and caused confusion for the reasons CaptHenway mentioned."
It's too bad that design wasn't kept. The striking problems were serious, tho, in addition to the reasons already mentioned.
This is the current law:
31 U.S. Code § 5112. Denominations, specifications, and design of coins
There is no specification for the cent or the dime. Thus, an eagle could be there, but would probably look more like a pigeon on such a small canvas...
Squab as the national bird.... hmmmmm. Might be OK on a little drone, but not on a B-1.
I have never considered the question. I just always assumed the Eagle was representative of larger coins...and that seems to apply. The Washington quarter of course, being a smaller denomination, certainly shows the eagle well... or did. Cheers, RickO