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Half Dime – the First US Coin – Facts and RumorsThat the 1792 half dime, the first official US Mint coin, was made from Washington’s own silverware may be more rumor than fact.It’s an attractive notion to be sure – our first President, he who brought us to nationhood, offering up his own elegant silver plate to the primordial national melting pot… Tradition has it that these first US coins, 2000 pieces, were struck from Washington’s silver, valued at $100. Washington passed them out to friends and dignitaries as presents to commemorate the beginning of US coinage – of which he’d been a strong advocate. Anyway, that’s what old Adam Eckfeldt remembered at the end of his minting career. In 1844 he had a conversation with John McAllister at the mint. Back in 1792 Eckfeldt was one of the first employees of the recently constituted US Mint, and was present at the striking of the half dimes. McAllister made note of this in a memo – a memo discovered by numismatic scholars in recent decades. And Here It Get’s Sticky…Scholarship, as we know, is the result of research, and also of debate. Scholars researching multiple sources come to separate conclusions. Thus Adam Eckfeldt’s coin story of the 1792 half dime is challenged on several points:1) Mint correspondence resident in the Library of Congress suggest that the government provided the silver from existing stores, and not from the generosity of the first president. 2) Adam Eckfeldt had not yet been hired and was therefore not present – it is known that he was the mint’s Coiner… in 1793, not 1792. 3) The Eckfeldt – McAllister conversation is itself in doubt. Neither of these names shows in the mint’s visitor log for the alleged date of the conversation, April 9, 1844. 4) Most of the surviving examples of the 1792 half dime are in heavily circulated condition, suggesting that most were put into circulation. This was implied in Washington’s own reference to the “small beginning” of US coinage, represented by these coins. Given Washington’s belief in the acute need for a domestically produced coinage, his remarks should be taken as a celebration of the beginning of a solution to a serious national problem rather than the production of mere presentation pieces. And the fantastic specimen pictured above?Well, this coin probably is a presentation piece, or “specimen strike” – it was clearly struck with great care, and probably more than once.Could that be the Very First US Coin?Probably not. There are die cracks on the reverse side, and die cracks are a consequence of striking -- not a pre-existing condition. Also, there are other pieces known that have no die cracks.Too Bad about those Die Cracks...Not really. The coin pictured above (image courtesy of Heritage Auction Galleries) recently sold for … $1,322,500.Go to Top of half dime page Return to First Federal Mint page... Go to Home page...
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