The United States one-cent coin (often called a penny, from the British coin of the same name) is a unit of currency equalling one-hundredth of a United States dollar. The cent's symbol is ¢. It has been the lowest-value physical unit of U.S. currency since the abolition of the half-cent in 1857.
The earliest one cent coins were large and made of copper; the United States Congress authorised coinage of one cent coins on January 14, 1793, with weight of 208 grains - smaller than the initially considered size of 264 grains, in which some patterns had been struck. With this act, the coinage of copper could begin on a regular basis. Before production started, the specifications were altered again, to 168 grains (13.48 g).
This second type of American one cent coin was only struck from 4th April to 17th July 1793; it replaced the earlier "Chain Cent" design which was heavily critised and quickly discontinued. The new reverse featuring a wreath motif improved the situation, but the Flowing Hair obverse was still not accepted well so Philadelphia Mint had to discontinue this type too, and update the obverse later in the year.
The design is usually attributed to Henry Voigt, but this is not certain; it could have been done by William Birch or Adam Eckfeldt.
Probably only about 4% of the original 63,353 coin mintage survive: 2,400 to 2,800 in all grades, of which 30 qualify as uncirculated.
The large copper format of the one cent denomination was discontinued by the Coinage Act of February 21, 1857 and was replaced by a smaller bronze coin. While withdrawn from circulation and not used any more, these coins have never been officially demonetised though. |