Coin Facts
CENTS
The copper for the 1799 Large Cent was from the Coltman Brothers, and was inferior grade copper the mint had to use anyway, none other being available. It was rough and dark, and made poorly surfaced planchets.
There is a story connected with the 1799 cents. In 1860, it was suggested by Montroville W Dickeson that the inferior coins be shipped to Africa to satisfy the Tribal Chiefs there with some type of token.
The 1799 cent is a very rare date. In an 1867 sale of the Joseph Mickley collection, a lightly circulated example of this coin (most likely the best ever known) sold for the small fortune of $32.00. Today, even a G4 example of this rare date will sell for $3,500.00 – and the piece comparable to the above – an EF40, will sell for $35,000.00. That is the highest grade of this coin ever seen or certified – NO Mint State examples are believed to exist. The highest certified grade is a Very Fine at the NCG grading services – with 18 examples certified. PCGS has certified 80 examples, and their highest was Extremely Fine.
Porosity in the early Large cent is not often evidence of cleaning or poor storage like it is with most later coins. Some of these had a poor alloy mix, or irregular rolling to thickness problems that caused pores in the coin surfaces. This is understood by the collectors of early Large cents. However, this problem was soon fixed, and porosity in most coins is indeed caused by cleaning with acid-based cleaners, or storage in a humid environment, or from corrosion and rust formation – all of which can pit and damage a coin’s surface. Copper is the most reactive metal used in coins, and pits the easiest.
Even the copper nickel coins of 1857 to 1863 were hoarded in the Civil War for the metal content – although their melt value was less than half a cent. By mid 1863, there were NO coins in circulation, and the country was running on substitutes, such as the encased postage stamp, the Hard Times Tokens that copied the small cent, and numerous Fractional Currency paper issues.
There is an unusual variety of the 1941 cent. It is the normal diameter, but as thick as a nickel. It also weighs 63 grains instead of the customary 48 grains. This coin is most likely struck on a planchet intended for the 1940 Nicaragua 1 centavo, since the mint often supplied planchets for other countries which could not make their own.
The FG (designer’s initials, Frank Gasparro), seen to the right of the Lincoln Memorial on the reverse of the coin, were larger on some 1973 cents. The mint has no explanation of why or how this happened. But this makes this one year coin possible to recognize from the reverse alone!
There are 8 different varieties of the 1982 cents. That year, there were both small and large date varieties, and a composition change as well.
The 8 varieties are as follows :
- Philadelphia Large date in bronze
- Philadelphia Large date in zinc
- Philadelphia small date in bronze
- Philadelphia small date in zinc
- Denver Large date in bronze
- Denver Large date in zinc
- Denver small date in zinc
- San Francisco Proof only Large date in bronze
The large date was followed by the small date, and the bronze coins were followed by the zinc coins.
Note that there were no Denver coins made in bronze with the small date. The only way a 1982-D Small date Bronze coin could exist is if a bronze planchet got mixed in with the zinc planchets, since the Denver Mint had a gap of one week between the minting of the bronze and zinc coins – and did not make any small date pieces in the bronze alloy. Certification would be needed of this coin if one is suspected to exist.
NICKELS
The 3 cent nickel was first proposed to be in the same composition as the white cents – or 88% copper and 12% nickel – but was finally issued in the same composition as the nickel – 75% copper and 25% nickel – which was minted from 1866 on.
There are actually people that are ALLERGIC TO MONEY – specifically the nickel used in all of our circulating coins but the cent. They can not handle change, and will have a dermatitis attack within an hour of handling enough coins to reach a threshold level of exposure to nickel, which is found in most coins at the 25% level. This allergy is rare, but life-threatening.
There were patterns of nickels dated 1865 (the first actual nickels being made and circulated in 1866). These patterns were struck for collectors as late as 1869 – with the 1865 date. One of these patterns has George Washington on it, and one has Abraham Lincoln. Both would have rejected these patterns. Washington (although now long dead) would have rejected his on the grounds that having his portrait on a coin was the same as the European custom of honoring a king or queen – and that is not what a President of a Free Country would do. Lincoln would have rejected the pattern with his portrait on the grounds that such a coin would be despised in the Confederate States, and never have circulated there.
The new nickel coins of 1866 were nothing short of a disaster for the Mint to successfully make. The planchets of the nickel coins were too hard, and the copper/nickel mix of the alloy was not annealing properly (that is, it did not properly mix, and was still streaked with unalloyed metal). The dies that had to strike these coins were overstressed, and broke frequently under use. Instead of the customary die life expected of well over 100,000 strikes per die pair, these dies could seldom hold up for 10,000 strikes! The engraver, James Longacre (who also made the Indian Cent of this period) was putting in double time just to keep the dies engraved fast enough to keep up with this great breakage rate. Since 14 Million nickels were minted this year, the dies used must have been close to 1,500. The next year, the designs on this coin (the shield nickel) were reduced in relief, and the rays were removed from the reverse. This helped die life somewhat, but this coin still broke more dies than any other of the period. Many shield nickels have die breaks in the design, in an attempt to use the dies as long as possible.
Many shield nickels are found cleaned, but this is not the fault of overzealous amateur collectors. The Philadelphia Mint actually cleaned the ones sent back to the Treasury. They washed them, then they put them back into circulation.
One reason for the lower mintages of the shield nickels of the earlier 1870’s was the strong counterfeiting of this coin, especially in New York. Also, the older dates were minted in sufficient quantities to fully meet the demand.
The shield nickel carried the demands of commerce from 1862 to 1873, since most silver coins were hoarded for the silver. But by 1875, the silver returned to circulation, and the nickel fell into disfavor. They were returned to the Treasury. By 1876, the Treasury was clogged by the returned nickels, and stopped making them from 1877 to 1881. Only collector Proofs were made these years. These were struck by the Mint Director, Mr. Snowden, for collectors – or as “stocking stuffers” for Christmas those years. There was no public demand for a nickel coin with all the silver circulating again. But by 1882, the demand for the nickel had gone up again, so the last two years of the Shield nickel – 1882 and 1883 – are minted in Million-plus quantities. The 1882/3 overdate of this coin is fairly common as an overdate piece. Most of the 1883 shield nickels were made only in the month of January, and only a few in February, but there were about 1.5 Million of that year minted. Then the two varieties of the next nickel design, the Liberty Head or “V” nickel were made.
HALF DIMES
A single example of the 1870-S Half dime was found in a Junk Box of an Illinois dealer in 1978. The coin was in Mint State 63 Grade, and later sold at the B & M auction of July 2004, for $661,250. It is believed to be the only one minted, probably to balance the books for the Mint that year. Since no Mint records corroborate this, there may be others found (like the missing 14 examples of the 1894-S dime may be).
DIMES
See “Dimes” in another file for an excellent history of the famous 1894-S Barber dime, as well as the key 1916-D Mercury dime.
QUARTERS
In 1916, the dime was designed first, followed by the half. The quarter was designed last. This accounts for the 1916 Standing Liberty Quarter being a low-mintage coin of only 52,000, since they were only struck at the very end of the year. But Denver got their dies for the dime last, accounting for the low mintage of the 1916-D dimes, with 264,000 minted, since it was also only struck at the very end of the year.
The bare breast on the Type One Standing Liberty Quarters of 1916 and the first half of 1917 was not changed by public outcry, but because of design problems with the coins. The Walking Liberty Halves also had design changes with the mintmark placement. This coin had many design problems, all of which were not completely fixed until 1925. However, the armor (chain mail) on Liberty’s breast did give a better message to the world that the United States was out of war, but still prepared to fight if necessary. Also, the stars on the reverse were distributed more evenly : instead of 7 on the left and 6 on the right giving a crowded appearance, the Type Two coins had the eagle flying higher, so there were 5 stars on each side, with 3 below the eagle – a much more balanced design.
The Denver Mint, State quarters are harder to find in high Mint State (the MS68 grade or above) than their Philadelphia counterparts. This is also true of the other clad quarters, which were not saved. This is especially true of the 1992 pieces, since there were no Mint sets that year, and the circulation coins were not saved. Most MS68’s are found in the Mint sets, which receive a bit more care than the standard circulation coins.
HALVES
It was not until 1964 that silver coins had more silver in them than their face value. The next year, silver boomed, and all silver was taken out of the dime and quarter. The half’s silver was reduced to 40% (from the 90% before), then in 1971, it became all clad like the others. Then, the quarter, half and dollar collector coins were made in 40% for the Bicentennial of 1976, with clad circulating versions also made. Since 1992, the Mint has made 90% silver versions of the dime, quarter and half for collectors, with the circulation issues made in the clad alloy.
DOLLARS
The die life of the Morgan Dollar is about 400,000 strikes per die, despite its large size and 300 tons of pressure required to strike fully. Many are beautifully struck, but there are also many small die crack varieties available for this reason.
The Eisenhower dollars are notoriously difficult to find in the upper Mint State grades. A true MS65 coin is difficult to find, a MS66 coin is quite rare, and an MS67 is virtually unknown for this series of weak strikes and poor luster.
All of the 40% Uncirculated and Proof coins were dated 1976 and were of the Type One variety, with the block letters – even though they were first issued in 1975. However, the clad composition coins that circulated were of the Type One style only in the first part of 1975. Later that year, the Type Twos were made, with the thinner letters believed to be more artistically pleasing. These were then made in 1976 as well. All the quarters, halves, and dollars of those years bore the double date 1776-1976, and only the dollar has a variety to distinguish the year it was made.