1792 SILVER-CENTER CENT
1792 saw a flurry
of activity aimed at establishing a Mint in America. Congress passed
a Mint Act, chose a Director, purchased a plot of land, erected a building,
and hired employees.
Four prototypes of the One
Cent piece were tested: a large copper piece (the "Birch" Cent), a smaller
copper piece with a silver center (the Silver-Center Cent"), another of
the same size (the Fusion Alloy Cent, in which the silver and copper were
melted together), and another of the same size in pure copper. The
Silver-Center Cent answered the concerns of then Treasury Secretary, Alexander
Hamilton, who felt that a billon coin could be too easily counterfeited.
However, the technical difficulties in producing quantities of the Silver-Center
Cent remained. Although no written evidence remains to record the
testing, clearly the large, pure copper piece was favored, as this was
the chosen format when production of Large Cents began in 1793.
When Frank Stewart demolished
the original Mint building circa 1924, he discovered some blank planchets
for the Silver-Center Cents (missing the silver center). In 1994,
Anthony Terranova discovered a struck Silver-Center Cent missing the silver
center. The several experts who examined this piece believe that
the silver center was never included and that the coin may have been a
test piece to show the size of the new coin.
Judd considered all the plain
edge pieces to be counterfeits.
Credit for the design and
engraving of the Silver-Center Cent normally goes to Henry Voigt, the first
Chief Coiner of the U.S. Mint, however this assignment is subject to interpretation
and is probably incorrect. The engraving skills shown on the Silver-Center
Cent exceed those possessed by someone with no previous
engraving experience.
Known examples (11-12
known):
Finest known.
-
Ex - Garrett "Brilliant Uncirculated"
(illustrated above).
-
Ex - Norweb - Stack's "Americana
/ Hain Family Part II" Sale, January 15-17, 2002, Lot 724, illustrated,
sold for $414,000.00 National Numismatic Collection at the Smithsonian
Institution "Choice Extremely Fine, nearly About Uncirculated."
-
Ex - Cogan's sale of April 1863
- Charles Ira Bushnell, Lorin G. Parmelee, H.P. Smith - George H. Earle
- Carl Wurtzbach - Virgil M. Brand - Belden Roach - Will W. Neil - F.
Eubanks -
-
Stack's sale of January 3, 1952
- Mrs.R. Henry Norweb -
-
New Netherlands sale of December
13, 1958, Lot 104 -
-
Stack's "Corrado Romano" Sale,
June 16, 1987, Lot 143 -
-
Stack's "Americana II" Sale,
January 12, 1999, Lot 143
-
Stack's 65th Anniversary Sale,
October 17-19, 2000, Lot 56, illustrated, sold for $178,250.00. This
was the 1914 American Numismatic Society Exhibition Coin, and was once
the coin used to illustrate the variety in both the Standard Catalogue
and the Guidebook of United States Coins.
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