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When Congress passed the Act of June 28, 1834 reducing the gold content of all gold coins, the intended effect was immediate: gold coins would no longer be worth more melted than spent, so they would…
Alexander Hamilton's 1791 report on establishing the Mint proposed the ten-dollar gold piece as the benchmark denomination of the new federal monetary system, though Hamilton himself found the name…
When the Seated Liberty dollar entered regular production in 1840, it retained the Gobrecht obverse in a slightly modified form: Liberty seated on a rock, a shield inscribed LIBERTY beside her, the…
Theodore Roosevelt's conviction that American coins were artistically unworthy of the republic had set off a transformation that began with his private correspondence with sculptor Augustus…
Mint Director James Ross Snowden's solution to the Type 1 gold dollar's size complaint was straightforward: widen the coin without changing its weight, and redesign both sides to suit the new…
Christian Gobrecht introduced the Coronet or Liberty Head design on the eagle ($10) in 1838 and on the quarter eagle in 1840. Liberty faces left wearing a coronet inscribed LIBERTY, her hair drawn…
The silver dollar had been dormant since 1804 and the federal coinage was generally considered undistinguished. Mint Director Robert M. Patterson, who took office in 1835, set out to change both…
The Philadelphia Mint struck its first large cent on February 27, 1793. By the end of that same year it had abandoned two designs, introduced a third, and produced six distinct varieties across two…
A collector's reference to the Sheldon scale, grading technique, surface problems, and third-party authentication. Written for the collector who wants to develop a reliable eye rather than memorize a…
John Reich paid for his passage from Germany to the United States through a period of indentured service, which was one way a skilled tradesman without capital made the crossing in the early…
Dollar coin production had been suspended since 1935. It resumed in 1971 because two events in 1969 converged in Congress: the death of President Dwight D. Eisenhower on March 28, 1969, which…
President Kennedy was assassinated on November 22, 1963. Congress authorized a memorial coin within weeks. The Mint was able to move with unusual speed because Gilroy Roberts, the ninth Chief…