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CoinWeek: How the First U.S. Mint Coinage Dies Were Made
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Mar 27, 2019
EAC President Bill Eckberg gave a fascinating talk at the 2018 EAC Convention, where he discussed his ongoing research on the production techniques employed by the U.S. Mint to create dies in its first few years of operation. Bill uses photo analysis to show the relationship between several prominent varieties of half cents and cents, as well as pattern coins like the 1792 half disme and disme.
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[Music]
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so we're gonna talk about the first
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coinage dyes we're going to talk about
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how they were made and who made them and
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there's some information that will be in
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this talk that I hope will convince you
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that pretty much everything you've
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learned about how the mint worked in the
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beginning is not true and I think it's
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always fun to discover new things so
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there's two ways you can make a dye the
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first is by direct engraving and you use
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tools like these the on the left is a
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graver or a Burin Buuren you use those
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to cut lines to incise lines the middle
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one is a scraper it's a triangular steel
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structure with three sharpened edges and
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you use that to gouge out large areas
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and the third one is burnisher and the
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burnisher is used to smooth out
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roughness smooth out roughness and if
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you see a tooled coin these are the
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tools that are used to tool coins as
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well so you make dyes and you you mess
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with real coins with the same tools in
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addition to to make a die you can use
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small punches and I've taken some of the
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images off of chain and wreath sense and
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just shown how these punches were made
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or looked here's an EVE a chain a chain
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link I should say it's got two holes in
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it and we'll explain that in a second if
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you haven't already figured it out
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and then there are different leaves and
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notice that this leaf is a strawberry
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leaf and that strawberry leaf is on the
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reverse of every wreath scent so if you
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own a wreath scent you own a strawberry
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leaf and you don't have to pay hundreds
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of thousands of dollars here's what you
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need to make a chain scent you need four
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number punches for the date two more of
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a different size for the denomination
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a ABCDEF I shall hem and ORS tu and why
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for the letters a chain link and you can
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see that they overlap and that's why the
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cutouts had to be in the chain link
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that's all you need
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as far as punches are concerned and
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we'll talk about more about how the
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chain dies were made in a bit second way
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to make dyes is by making a hub and
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we'll talk about how hugging is done as
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well a hub can be a larger design like
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for example this is a reconstruction of
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the hub from an 1804 dollar and you can
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also have the entire design hubbed and
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what this is is a reconstruction of the
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hub that was used for 1794 half cents
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they really did make a hub for 1794 half
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cents it was not successful
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they had to reengage so many things on
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each individual die that they never
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hugged a complete die for a half cent
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again until 1840 they did try to hub
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some large cents a little after that and
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it didn't work any better for that than
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it did for half cents here's an overlay
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of the three dies that were made from
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that hub and you may not be able to see
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it in the back but you can see that the
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letters don't match up
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although ER I see a the the denomination
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and uni and half cent actually do match
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quite well but the stuff that's up at
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the top a lot of the leaves are in
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different places they had to do a lot of
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Rhian graving it took about four days to
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produce a large hub for a for a coin at
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that time four to five days and it took
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about a day to engrave the rest of the
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die from from a hub reverses could be
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done more quickly they could be done in
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about a day because all you're doing is
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banging in a bunch of letters and leads
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and that didn't take so long so it just
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wasn't worthwhile to hub the
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verse of 1/2 Center a large cent in
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1790s so why would you have it die it
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allows dyes to be mass-produced saves
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you time and money
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produces more consistent dyes and coins
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and thereby reduces counterfeiting so
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there is every reason to hub dies every
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reason to do it and you might wonder why
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the myth didn't do it well how do you
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make a hub you start with a thing called
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a matrix also known as a master dye and
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this is a real matrix or master die for
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1/2 royale coin that is in the
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collection of Ray Williams and he sent
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me these pictures and allowed me to use
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them and I appreciate that and you can
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see that you have an M with a crown that
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shows that it's from the Madrid mint
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1789 is the year that it was made here
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is Carlos the fourth who was the the
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King at the time and that at the bottom
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is the engravers name so pulled it up
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you can call this a matrix or a master
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die either term is correct and that's
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the size of the coin that would have
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been produced from this master die if
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you look carefully you can see it's not
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but it's not from that master die but
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it's the right year and the right size
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here's a side view of it it's a big
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chunk of steel there's a little indent
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for that for a Chuck heat they hold it
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in place in a vise or something and this
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little cross down here is a blacksmith's
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mark or at least they believe it to be a
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blacksmith's mark
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here's how humming is done today these
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are our images from the US Mint you
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start with a die blank it's a cylinder
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that is at the top cut into the shallow
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cone and then you have a hub the hub
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looks just exactly like the final coin
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is supposed to look it's in relief like
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the coin the letters all face the same
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way as on the coin because that's going
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to be impressed into the die you then go
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to a humming press which squeezes
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literally squeezes this working hub into
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the top of the die blank it moves a
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great deal of metal as you can see and
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produces the in Coos die and then they
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machine down the die too to make it the
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right size so let's talk about 1792 the
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officers of the mint there were only
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three at the time David Rittenhouse was
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the director everybody knows that
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Tristram Daulton was the treasurer and I
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had a terrible time finding a color
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picture of him there the the picture
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that you always come up with on the
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Internet is a very grainy
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black-and-white image but this is
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Tristram Daulton he had been a senator
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he was elected for a two-year term
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because when the first senators were
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elected they were elected for two four
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or six years at the end of the two-year
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term he was not re-elected and he was
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looking for a job and he got a job as
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the treasurer of the mint and Henry Boyd
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was the chief coiner Pro Tem
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he was the temp in a temporary
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appointment they were trying to hire
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somebody from Europe to serve as both
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chief coiner and engraver and so he was
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actually in a temporary appointment for
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quite a while there are no known
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pictures of him unfortunately because he
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turns out to be the man who basically
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put them in together he's really the
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most important person in the first US
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Mint so everyone at the mint was new to
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his job
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the
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had no engraver so who's gonna make the
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dies who's gonna make the dies well
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there were several people in 1792 that
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engrave dies first one is a guy named
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birch whose first name may or may not
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have been Robert they do not know so if
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you see it as Robert birch maybe maybe
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not and birch created this sent pattern
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this is a beautiful example of it his
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name is engraved right at the truncation
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of the shoulder and then it's enlarged
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so you can see it says birch famous coin
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Bert's ten it's called the birch cent
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because his name is on it
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the half dime or half deem or half
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Disney depending on who you are and what
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you like it's probably also by the same
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guy largely because the style is very
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very similar and we'll come back to this
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coin in a minute Joseph Wright who you
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heard mentioned a couple of talks ago if
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you were here for JK's talk Joseph
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Wright created this metal the Henry Lee
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Medal for his valor at Paulus Hook he
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also signed it at the truncation of the
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neck Jay Wright and I've enlarged that
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Henry boy also made dies in 1792 he
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created the silver Center cent and this
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one actually does have a silver plug in
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it one of the finest known and he
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created this the dime pattern or D more
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Disney however you want to pronounce it
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and if we look at the obverses of the
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half dime and the dime I want you to
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just look at the lettering if you can
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see it it looks like the letters are
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much larger on the small coin than on
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the big coin doesn't it looks like that
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to me but they're actually the same size
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they're actually made from the exact
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same font they're made from the same
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punches here are the reverses again look
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how big dime looks there versus this you
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can layer one right over the other and
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they're exactly the same so they used
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the same punches for the for the
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lettering on both of these denominations
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and in fact the same font was used for
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the 1793 half cents and then there's
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this thing when I say what is it it's
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variously called a cent a quarter dollar
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and a half eagle most people now call it
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a quarter dollar pattern because Joseph
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Wright claimed to have created a quarter
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dollar pattern this is basically a
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thought that was invented by Don taxi in
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the 1960s until then it was held in the
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US Mint collection as a cent now it does
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not meet the legal requirements for a
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cent because it's got an eagle on the
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back and since are not allowed legally
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to have an eagle on the back so whatever
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it was intended to be it wasn't a cent
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the other thing that's interesting about
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this is that the dyes were quite
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different in size see that large looks
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like a broad strike on the front the
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back is struck normally so these dyes
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are actually quite different and we'll
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talk about that in a second the coin and
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this is from from crosby from well over
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100 years ago the coin you refer to is
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in the mint cabinet is of copper and
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weighs 175 and a half grains nothing is
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certainly known of its history but it
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was one of the pieces handed over to the
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cabinet by the late Adamek felt who was
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connected with the mint from its origin
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and as it cannot well be referred to any
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other source I feel pretty sure it's a
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trial piece made at the mint I have
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never seen
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the lettering is feeble and so on so
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nobody really knows where this was made
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it does appear to be a mint product go
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back to it it has no denomination the
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reverse is 29 millimeters the obverse is
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25 and a half a half-dollar is 32
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millimeters 1/4 27 Assent 27 1/2 Eagle
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25 and 1/2 cent 24.5 so you know it
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could have been a plan for a half dollar
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and a quarter it could have been the
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obverse could have been for a half eagle
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or it could have even conceivably been
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for a half cent but if it wasn't just
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for one coin at least if it was it was a
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really sloppy job none of the sizes fit
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we have no way to know what it is or who
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made it 1793 Jefferson was trying to
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hire someone from Europe to serve as
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both chief corner and engraver the chief
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coin er was to be paid $1500 a year the
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engraver was to be paid $1,200 a year
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and they figured if they could hire one
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person to do both jobs they could save
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$1,200 a year and that's exactly what
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they were trying to do they worked to
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get this guy's on PR Droste
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who at one time had worked in Paris and
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was working in Birmingham England at the
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time and he jerked him around for about
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a year and never came Jefferson gave up
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in June in July Washington and Jefferson
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decided to give Joseph Wright a recess
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appointment as engraver
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this is Joseph Wright and his family
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this is a painting at least part of
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which he did this is him his wife and
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they had three little children these two
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were twins or at least we assumed they
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were twins because they were born in the
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same year they could have been Irish
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twins I suppose unfortunately right died
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on of all days Friday the 13th of
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of 1793 and his wife died about the same
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time and there was actually a notice in
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the newspaper about Wright's death you'd
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mentioned nothing about him working for
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the mint there are no records of the
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appointment of Wright as engraver there
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are no letters no official documents
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from the government confirming this
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appointment however Washington and
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Jefferson both referred to him after his
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death as our engraver and we have to
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replace our engraver so there may be
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something somewhere but nobody has
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founded Elias Boudinot who was the
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second director of the mint was a
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congressman in 1793 or in 1795 when this
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was done and he was leading the charge
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to abolish the mint so he got himself
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appointed to a committee as the chair of
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the committee and they were going to go
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down to the mint and they were gonna
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find out what is wrong with these people
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why they can't make enough coins why
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we're spending all this money and we're
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not getting money in circulation he was
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gonna go down there and he was going to
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destroy the place and he came to
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discover that the reason the mint wasn't
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producing much was because Congress
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wasn't funding them enough and so he
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came back to Congress and he told them
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what they needed to do and one of the
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things he said was it was a considerable
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time before an engraver could be engaged
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during which the chief coin er was
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obliged to make the dies for himself so
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we're back to Henry Voight he was the
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chief corner he was not a trained artist
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he was however a really talented guy who
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was kind of a polymath a clock maker he
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made the engine for the first practical
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US steamboat he made surveying
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instruments he was a good friend of
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Rittenhouse and Jefferson he even
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created a new religion that he called
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the universal society in which you did
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good works because that was the right
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thing to do not because if you didn't
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you would be divinely punished
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it didn't last long so here are some of
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the coins that he created 1793 chain
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said wouldn't you guys like to have this
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one it's one of the finest Amer eyes may
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be the finest Amer I
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here's a nice wreath it's got some
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strawberry leaves back here a red Brown
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wreath how many of those are there 1793
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1/2 cent from the Missouri cabinet all
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of these dyes were supposed to have been
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hand engraved and if you read any book
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they will tell you that these dyes were
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hand engraved and until about a little
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more than a year ago that was believed
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to be true I say but were they a
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rational belief demands the test of a
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preliminary doubt this is out Archibald
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s Cooper Esquire from 1858 I used to
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have this on a poster in my lab that I
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wanted my students to look at because as
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a scientist we teach everybody to
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question everything and we wanted our
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students to question everything the
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poster actually had a guy dressed up for
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winter it's really clutch you know cold
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he's wearing a scarf and a big hat but
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he's got one foot out of his boot and
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he's sticking his toe in the water a
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rational belief demands the test of a
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preliminary doubt and I was thinking
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that these two phases these are the two
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1793 half cent
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versus those phases look a lot alike the
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hair doesn't hair is very different the
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liberty caps are very different but
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those phases sure look a lot alike so
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what I did was overlay these in
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Photoshop in yellow and cyan because the
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colors are quite different and you can
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see that the face the entire bust from
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the ear the eyes the nose the mouth the
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chin the throat the bust line everything
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matches perfectly the hair does not the
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Liberty Cap does not
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so these coins were were hugged in other
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words these were not hand engraved the
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hair was hand engraved the cap was hand
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engraved the poles you can see there's
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two poles those were hand engraved but
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Liberty's face was not so the question
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is was this hub created for 1793 half
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cents or did it already exist again why
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would you think it would previously
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exist the problem is the 1792 dime
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pattern looks a lot like that half cent
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doesn't it look at the two faces
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side-by-side they look a lot alike and
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this was actually noted by Crosby in his
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in his big book he commented on that
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nobody ever commented on it again until
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Walter Breen in 1954 he said the remark
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the the resemblance was remarkable and
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he said it proved that they were by the
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same hand in other words the same
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engraver did these two but he didn't go
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any further than that well why would
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they hub a dime from 1792 it was a
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pattern wasn't intended for coinage
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there are 22 known in copper about half
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of which circulated probably as half
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cents because they were the right size
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if 10% of the half dimes survived then
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that suggests that fewer than 250 dimes
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were ever made all from the same dye
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pair so why would you hub something
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that's going to be used for a pattern
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that's only going to be used briefly
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like that a rational belief demands the
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test of a preliminary doubt and if we
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take these and overlay them once again
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the face is the same the forehead the
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eyes the nose the mouth the chin even
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the jawline the ear the neck the
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bustline exactly the same
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this is one of those discoveries that
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was out there in front of everybody for
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for 225 years and and nobody noticed it
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Liberty from the two dyes is also again
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the same font so here's the hub that
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created those three dyes we don't know
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what was back here so I've kind of
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grayed that out but you can see that the
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face the eye the year the nose the mouth
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and so on everything is exactly the same
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those the dime and the half cent were
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from the same hub so void created a hub
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in 1792 reused it for another
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denomination in 1793 who would expect
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that well why did we create a hub we can
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only speculate but Jefferson was trying
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to hire one person to take both jobs boy
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wanted the job he didn't have another
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job he was trying to show what he could
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do and and how better to do it than to
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create a hub in 1792 and use it
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especially to reuse it in 1793 again
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this is speculation I don't know that
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that's true but nothing else makes sense
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to me did you have anything else well we
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know the chain wreath and Liberty Cap
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scents were struck before the half cent
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so we're any of those hugged I did an
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overlay with the chain dies and this is
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s 1 over s 4 and you can see that I've
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aligned the chins but the eyes the ears
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the nose the throat and the bustline are
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all completely different so these were
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not produced from the same hub and I've
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done these overlays with all four chain
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dyes and they are all individually hand
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engraved none of them were hugged these
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are also in very low relief unlike the
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half set or the dime that you saw and in
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a way it looks like these were maybe
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some kind of a rush job they were just
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trying to get these out so that they
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could get something out in February of
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1793
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the chain converses were hand engraved
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how about the wreath this is s 9 10 and
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11 overlay the hair is very psychedelic
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because the hair is a little different
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in each dye but the faces and the bust
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lines are exactly the same just like
23:20
with the half sense
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here's one that nobody has seen because
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I hadn't published this before this is
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s6 and NC 3 it's a strawberry leaf and
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it's dark but there's a strawberry leaf
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right there and the strawberry leaf is
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in wretched condition it's all terribly
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corroded but to the extent that you can
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tell it does line up with the others so
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in all likelihood all of the wreaths
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were made from the same hub and this is
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sort of one more nail in the coffin of
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the notion that the strawberry leaves
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were not a mint product there's lots of
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other evidence that it was in that
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product but this is sort of one more
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nail in that coffin
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so the wreaths cents were hugged and
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that's what the hub looked like here's a
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1793 Liberty Cap sent Danes favorite
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coin this is the finest known as 13 the
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finest known 1793 Liberty Cap set is the
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hub that created it you it does have the
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pole it does have the cap unlike the
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half cent hub that was used because the
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half cent hub was made for something
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else
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so that coin is usually attributed to
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right but unfortunately right was not
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paid for any work at the mint in 1793 I
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worked for the government both as a
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contractor and as an employee at
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different times and I know that if you
24:57
work for the government they pay you and
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I'm sure that was the same in 1793 he
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asked that his estate be paid for the
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henry lee medal he asked on his deathbed
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in fact two days before he died they did
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not pay him until after he died it was
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it was paid it was paid fifty guineas or
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two hundred and thirty three dollars and
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33 cents he asked that as a state be
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paid for a quarter dollar pattern that
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broke in hardening it was not paid for
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that which is one of another reason to
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suspect that that eagle on globe peace
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is not his quarter dollar pattern and he
25:35
asked to be paid for nothing else if he
25:37
had done any work for the mint in 1793
25:39
he would have been paid and he was not
25:43
the member of 23rd of 1793 Robert Scott
25:47
was hired as engraver but all of the
25:50
1793 cents and a half cents had already
25:52
been delivered so Robert Scott had
25:57
nothing to do with it Henry Boyd
26:00
designed and engraved all of the 1793