The true northerner. [volume] (Paw Paw, Mich.) 1855-1920, 1884-03-13
The First Copper Cents.

The earliest American copper coins
made by any State were made at Rupert,
in Vermont, and before Vermont had
been admitted into the Union. A mint
was there established for eight or ten
years, having O capacity to stamp sixty
coppers, upon which the sO-called
"baby-head" goddess of liberty ap-
peared; but truth compels me to say
that this goddess was no more comely
than that on the coins of the present
day, although she was 100 years
younger. The owner of the mint,
Reuben Harmon, was bound to pay the
state % per cent. for his privilege. At
first these coins passed two for q penny,
then four, and then eight, when they
no longer paid Cor the cost, mainly on
account of the sudden competition OF
other States, and of the large importa-
tions of Birmingham hardware, COM
monty called "Bungtown coppers. =
We had no protective tariff then, and
we have none now, against "Bung-
towns" whe ther of copper or silver.
In 1887, by authority of Congress, q
contract was made with James Jarvis
for 800 tons of copper coin, of the Fed
eral standard, and cents were coined at
the New Haven mint of the following
description: On one side thirteen
circles linked together, q small circle
in the middle, with the words, ave are
one;" on the other side a sun-dial, and
below the dbl the words, Mind your
business"
In 1892 Congress authorized the coin
age of copper cent weighing 264
grains, which was reduced in 1898 to
208 grains, again reduced in 1896 to 16S
grains, later to 140 grains, on which
the so-called "booby-head" appears,
and in 1857 to ~ grains, of which 80
per cent. was to be copper and II per
cent. nickel. In 1864 it was once more
reduced to As grains-95 per cent OF
copper and per cent of tin or zinc.
Finally, in 1882, the last change was
made to three-fourths of copper and
one-fourth of nickel, but the weight re-
mains at AZ grains.
The frequent and wide alterations
which have been made in our copper
coins show that intrinsic value has al
most vanished, and they bear no pro-
portional value to other coins; but at
the start, when copper bore q much
higher price, the weight of the cent was
fixed at five and half times what it is
now. In the southern portion of our
country, and especially on the Pacific
coast, copper coins have been as incur
rent as the yellow-haired Chinaman, or
for long time they were practically
tabooed, and even now they are unwel-
come travellers, much in need of pass
port. Wherever not altogether snubbed
the copper ,nt must pass, as Woods
notable copper coins must have passed
in America or Ireland, far above any
real value, and with little other merit
beyond the dusky color now supplied on
its face to our recent Indian image
Liberty" After common use these
coins assume deeper Ethiopic com.
plexion, and become petty nuisances,
scents as we'll as cents, redolent OF
many coppery smells, which are easily
translated to other coins, or to any
thing with which they hold pocket In
tercourse. Copper as metal is
wondrously useful, daily becoming
more so, but neither Lycurgus mol
Hamilton would at this day think Of
stamping it as money. Certainly we
can do better. II the cent and cen,
coins were now made wholly of nickel
the Government would obtain an ample
seigniorage; and the nickel, when com
pared with swarthy copper, is immacu
late, or clean and bright. The i'm
portance of the cent coinage will bt
realized when we find that over 40,
100000 pieces were coined the past
wear