1 Dollar Pattern, United States, 1794
date: label: date made
content: 1794
name: label: mint
content: U.S. Mint, Philadelphia
label: designer
content: Scot, Robert
notes: label: Description
content: Once a new national government had been established under a new Constitution, attention naturally turned to ways of proclaiming national identity. A new, national coinage was one way of doing so, especially if it featured patriotic new images, rather than the endless sequence of crowned monarchs and coats of arms adorning the coinage of Old Europe.
label: Description
content: The Coinage Act, which established a national mint, was passed in 1792, and work was quickly underway. Designs were chosen-- a depiction of Liberty for obverses, an eagle, or the value within a wreath, for reverses. The first of the new coins, copper cents and half cents, appeared early the following year. By 1794, mint designers were working to create a silver dollar, the flagship of the new denominations. But they first made a trial piece, in copper.
label: Description
content: Robert Scot created the dies for this design, a Liberty head with flowing hair for the dollar's obverse; an eagle within a simple wreath for the reverse. The new dies to be used in producing silver dollars were tested with a striking in copper. Copper would take a good impression, and would allow Scot and his associates to see whether the dies were cut deeply enough and would therefore be capable of producing the detail wanted on the final silver product.
label: Description
content: Only one piece, this coin, was struck in copper, and it is a unique national treasure.
place: label: place made
content: United States
label: city
content: United States: Pennsylvania, Philadelphia
setName: label: See more items in
content: Work and Industry: National Numismatic Collection
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content: Coins
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content: Numismatics
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content: Coins, Currency and Medals
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content: Legendary Coins
label: Exhibition
content: Value of Money
label: Exhibition Location
content: National Museum of American History
publisher: label: Related Publication
content: Zoomable Image and Details
label: Related Publication
content: Sewer, Andy; Allison, David; Liebhold, Peter; Davis, Nancy; Franz, Kathleen G.. American Enterprise: A History of Business in America
label: Related Publication
content: Feingold, Ellen R.. Value of Money, The
label: Related Publication
content: Glossary of Coins and Currency Terms
label: Related Web Publication
content: http://americanhistory.si.edu/coins/glossary.cfm
creditLine: label: Credit Line
content: Norman & Harvey G. Stack
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: National Museum of American History
identifier: label: ID Number
content: 1987.0910.01
label: accession number
content: 1987.0910
label: catalog number
content: 1987.0910.0001
objectType: label: Object Name
content: coin
physicalDescription: label: Physical Description
content: copper (overall material)
label: Measurements
content: overall: 38 mm; 1 1/2 in