Coins 1776-1792

Except otherwise stated, all results below include the premium.
See also : Coin  Gold coins  Development of USA
Chronology : 1780-1789  1792

1786 The Know How of Ephraim Brasher
2021 SOLD for $ 2.1M by Heritage

Ten years after independence, no federal currency has yet been created in the United States. Spanish, English and Portuguese currencies remain in use. The Nova Constellatio project of 1783 was stopped after trials in copper and silver.

Larger foreign gold coins tempt counterfeiters. Based in New York, Ephraim Brasher is an assayer, who marks with his EB punch the coins for which he guarantees the conformity. He will try to develop the production of US coins.

The standard of gold currency is the Spanish 8 escudo coin, also named a doubloon, made in Lima. Two varieties of Brasher doubloons are known, the Lima type and the New York type. Tiny wear from the EB punch on the New York type ensures that the best Lima type unit was anterior.

The Lima type was not designed to circulate. It is a close copy of the 8 escudos of 1742, with the same inscriptions. Brasher added his full name. On the reverse the heraldic figures, hand engraved, are rough.

Two units of the Lima type have survived. Both were clipped, probably by the assayer himself to adjust the weight to the 408 grain value specified in 1786 by the Bank of New York for the 8 escudo coin. On the better of the two coins, this date was deciphered in 1991 in the cropped edge. On both coins, the EB mark is on the reverse, in the center of the Jerusalem cross.

All these blunders indicate that Brasher's goal was to promote his expertise in the strike of metals. His Lima type doubloon is the very first gold coin minted in the United States with locally created dies and a gold alloy whose composition is different from that used in Lima.

The better of the two coins, graded MS61 by NGC, was sold for $ 2.1M by Heritage on January 21, 2021, lot 3935. The other coin, graded XF40 by NGC, was sold for $ 690K by Heritage on January 12, 2005.

1787 New York Style Brasher Doubloon

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2021 SOLD for $ 9.4M by Heritage

The independence of the United States creates the need for a national emblem which will be affixed from an official seal. The project was accepted by Congress after six years, in 1782. It was double-sided, so that it could be printed at the end of a ribbon, but in practice only the face with the heraldic eagle would be used.

The popular iconography seized on this patriotic symbol in 1786, with the engravings prepared by James Trenchard for the first two issues of Columbian Magazine. The eagle with its outstretched wings, the thirteen stripes on the breast shield, the olive branch and the arrows appeared in 1787 on the reverse side of the Cent and Half Cent from Massachusetts.

The first gold coin illustrated with these symbols is the New York-style Brasher doubloon, also in 1787. The finest of the seven known examples, graded MS65 by NGC, was sold for $ 9.4M by Heritage on January 21, 2021, lot 3934.

Brasher was a metallurgist and definitely not an artist, which is amply demonstrated by his Lima-style doubloon prepared in 1786. In the meantime he partnered with the designer John Bailey. The pieces are punch marked with his initials EB with two possible positions, on the wing and on the breast of the eagle. Although their centering and cutting are awkward, they are beautiful coins whose design is sharp enough to discourage counterfeiting. The centering is very good, with full readability all around.

Both sides are inspired by the national emblem. The eagle has all of its attributes, including the constellation of thirteen stars around its head. On the other side, the Eye of Providence shines its radiant light from above a pyramidal mountain. The inscription conforms to the federal motto E Pluribus Unum but the production is located in Nova Eboraca (New York).

Brasher's Lima-type and New York-type doubloons were not documented in period, which confirms how limited their use was. The gold alloy had undoubtedly been recovered by the melting of some jewelry. Brasher assayer's punch EB gave these coins an authorization for circulation and they are considered regular by numismatists.

A half doubloon is kept at the Smithsonian. It was made with the same dies and a thinner planchet. Unlike the doubloons of the same year but in accordance with the two known Lima style doubloons, some trimming was required to adjust the weight. This half doubloon was perhaps an intermediate version for testing the dies.

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2014 SOLD for $ 4.6M by Heritage

On January 9, 2014, Heritage listed one from only two New York style Brasher doubloons in mint condition, graded MS63 by PCGS. It was sold for $ 4.6M, lot 5100. Please watch the video shared by the auction house.

That specimen had been the discovery Brasher doubloon in the nineteenth century. It was at that time in the estate of an important dealer importer named Gilmor also known as an early collector of coins.

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2005 SOLD for $ 3M by Heritage

A Brasher doubloon graded XF45 by NGC was sold for $ 3M by Heritage on January 15, 2005, lot 30017. It was later graded AU50 by PCGS.

It is the only New York type Brasher doubloon with the EB punch mark on the eagle's breast. A private sale at $ 7.395M was reported in December 2011.

The six other surviving units have the punch on the wing.

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2005 SOLD for $ 2.4M by Heritage

On January 15, 2005 in the same sale as above, Heritage sold for $ 2.4M a Brasher doubloon with the EB punch on the eagle's wing, graded AU55 by NGC, lot 30016.

1792 President Washington before the Coinage Act
​2018 SOLD for $ 1.74M by Heritage

April 30, 1789 is the inaugural day of George Washington as the first president of the United States. The creation of a coinage system is becoming increasingly urgent. Throughout 1791 the debates are intense between the creation of a federal factory under close governmental control and the outsourcing to private workshops.

Several craftsmen offer their know-how by producing test pieces in copper for the 1 cent. The similarity of pieces of various origins adorned with the effigy of the President suggests that a guideline was provided. The most active is not American but English : the Westwood workshop in Birmingham for which Hancock is the engraver.

Trials in multiple denomination appear to be a common practice. Pieces are made from the same dies with various metals without worrying about the circulation value. This observation makes incomprehensible the expected use of the 1776 Continental Dollar.

On January 12, 1792 the Senate approves more detailed requirements for the design, triggering a new debate on a possible monarchical interpretation of the portrait of the president. Washington's position on this point is unclear but he does not seem upset when the Mint Act of 2 April 1792 removes his effigy and replaces it with Liberty.

A unique gold coin dated 1792 bearing the portrait of Washington is known. It was struck with dies that were also used with silver and copper. Described for the first time in 1855, this piece has long been attributed to Hancock. It is now re-attributed to the American inventor Jacob Perkins working in Newburyport MA, author of a medal where the drawing of the portrait is unquestionably identical.

This gold coin is close to the Eagle as defined in the Coin Act. It does not meet all the prescriptions of January 1792 and may have been engraved earlier and post-dated. It is graded XF-45 by NGC. Its traces of wear are typical of a transport in a purse that the imagination of numismatists identifies as the President's pocket.

It was for 75 years the favorite piece of Eric P. Newman's collection for its connection to the first President in the most valuable metal during the preparation phase of the US currency. It was sold for $ 1.74M by Heritage on August 16, 2018, lot 5010, for the benefit of institutions designated by the Eric P. Newman Numismatic Education Society. Please watch the video shared by the auction house.

1792 Birch Cent
2015 SOLD for $ 2.6M by Heritage

The Coinage Act of April 2, 1792 established both the US currency and the Philadelphia Mint that had to produce it. The first released value, issued in July 1792, was the half disme because it was the smallest silver coin. This operation which directly involved President Washington was essentially political as the small produced quantity did not allow an effective circulation.

Much effort was then applied to the cent, worth 1/100 of a dollar, authorized in copper by the Coinage Act. US people were impatient of possible delays in the currency promised by their Congress but on the other side  the unexpected rise in copper prices could turn to political disaster

This panic of copper is the cause of experiments of bimetallic copper-silver pattern cents : the silver-center cent and the fusible alloy cent. These unusual designs were both unsuitable for mass production.

Projects for full copper coin patterns are not abandoned. The Birch cent is certainly tested at the Philadelphia Mint at the end of 1792, of which it is bearing the date. Two copper variants are described by Judd and Pollock.

Similarities in the design enable to consider that this cent was prepared by the same engraver who also made the half disme. The Birch name is engraved down the neck of Liberty in the so-called Birch cent.

The sudden increase in the price of copper terminated this first federal cent before the production phase. Bimetallic copper-silver trials of 1792, which could not be industrially viable, were probably made in December.

The solution will be political. On January 14, 1793, the Congress is devaluing from 264 to 209 grains the weight of a copper cent. 264 grains correspond to 17.1 grams. The enigmatic Mr Birch disappears from the history of coinage, possibly in the 1793 yellow fever pandemic. The first 1 cent released for circulation will be the chain cent, in March 1793.

Nine units of the Birch copper cent are known. On January 8, 2015, Heritage listed the two finest specimens. The piece in Judd-4 variant, graded MS65 by NGC, weighs 220 grains. It was sold for $ 2.6M, lot 5504.

The coin in Judd-5 variant is the next lot, 5505. It was sold for $ 560K. It weighs 262 grains and is graded MS61 by NGC.

1792 The Copper Eagle of Joseph Wright
2015 SOLD for $ 2.23M by Heritage

There is no doubt that the Eagle on Half-Globe is a test of dies made with copper and white metal planchets at the Philadelphia Mint in 1792. However, it does not comply with the rules of the Congress Act of April 2, 1792 according to which copper coins must be inscribed with their face value on the reverse.

The archives of the Mint are very incomplete for that first year. We will probably never know what the purpose of this test had been : to qualify a designer or to prepare a new model in copper or silver, which would have been a one cent or a quarter dollar. There was no follow-up.

It is undoubtedly an artist's piece, with on one side a dynamic and domineering eagle and on the other side a Liberty with bun more pleasant than the usual versions of that time with floating hair. The eagle on the globe had been since 1778 the interpretation chosen by the State of New York for the symbol of the USA.

The work is attributed to Joseph Wright, considered at that time to be one of the best portrait painters and whose mother was a wax modeler. He made tests for the Mint, as evidenced by the list of unpaid bills he established on his deathbed in September 1793. It is supposed that Washington and Jefferson, desiring a pretty artistic coinage, had pushed the candidacy of the young Wright, aged 36.

According to the Coinage Act, the quarter dollar is a silver coin. The two surviving copper specimens of the eagle on half  globe weigh between 175 and 180 grains and are thus much lighter than a cent even after the copper devaluation of 1793. The diameter, 29 mm, is almost consistent with the future quarters.

It was not uncommon to test the dies with various materials. The copper coins could be the product of a satisfactory test in copper before a failed trial in silver of which no evidence is available.

The finest copper coin, graded MS63 Brown by NGC, was sold for $ 2.23M by Heritage on January 8, 2015, lot 5511. Please watch the video shared by the auction house. The other piece, graded AU50, is preserved at the Smithsonian.

Prior to 2003, two pieces in white metal of the Eagle on half globe pattern coin were known, with weights of 345 and 242 grains, respectively. The composition of one of them was analyzed by NGC : 50% lead and 48% tin.

In 2003 an inventory at the New York Historical Society revealed two other previously unknown specimens in white metal, weighing 247 and 216 grains, respectively. They were both graded AU58 by NGC. No archive concerning them has been found. The lightest has been de-accessionned. It was sold for $ 1.26M by Heritage on April 24, 2021, lot 4960.

There are also two single-sided tests in white metal. The obverse, weighing 480 grains, is graded AU53 by PCGS. The reverse, weighing 433 grains, is graded XF45 by NGC. This pair will be sold later by Heritage.

1792 Silver Center Cent

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2021 SOLD for $ 2.5M by Heritage

For the establishment of the federal currency, the major problem is not the dollar but the cent, which is used for all transactions of daily life. In the monetary anarchy of that era, it was easy to melt copper coins to recreate them with less weight. In 1787 the Fugio cent is an attempt at federal control over this denomination.

In 1789 George Washington becomes the first president. It is high time to define the federal currency. In the same year, the Fugio cent, directly impacted by the collapse in the price of copper, is terminated.

The feasibility of using copper for small change is questioned. In the entourage of Secretary of State Thomas Jefferson, a bimetallic system is suggested, with a proportion of 3 to 1 in value between silver and copper. Technologically, three solutions are possible : the alloy, the silver coating and the plug.

Bimetallic tests are performed by the Chief Coiner Henry Voigt. Two processes are tried. The silver coating is not tested and the alloy is forgeable.

The Fusible Alloy cent goes straight to failure. The silver is in a too low proportion to alter the color of the copper and the coin would be very easy to counterfeit. It is one of the scarcest US pattern coins.

The Silver Center cent do not have this inconvenience. Slightly conical silver plugs are prepared in a thickness of 1.2 mm and an average diameter of 4.26 mm, providing the required proportion for a metal value of one hundredth of a dollar in a 23 mm copper piece. Inserted in the center of the piece of copper, the silver is quite visible, at least in a brand new coin. It is not acceptable because the production, which includes a melting after the insertion, induces an excessive cost of production.

On December 18, 1792, Jefferson reports to the President. He joins a prototype with a plug and a prototype made by fusion. His conclusion is clear : the cent defined by Congress will be made of copper alone. The risk linked to the instability of the copper price is thus accepted de facto. This statement is ratified by Congress in January 1793 with a decrease in the weight of the cent from 264 to 209 grains.

Twelve specimens of the Silver Center Cent have survived. The finest, graded SP67 Brown by PCGS, was sold for $ 2.5M by Heritage on January 20, 2021, lot 3004.

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2014 SOLD for $ 2M by Heritage

Twelve units of the silver center cent survived, to which we may add another one announced by the press in 2009 and a specimen without the plug.

The finest unit from this unusual and prestigious variety, is graded MS67 by PCGS.

The second finest is graded MS64 by PCGS with a nice sheen on both sides. It was sold for $ 2M by Heritage on August 7, 2014, lot 5517.