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The Coinage Act of 1792 (also known as the Mint Act; officially: An act establishing a mint, and regulating the Coins of the United States), passed by the United States Congress on April 2, 1792, created the United States dollar as the country's standard unit of money, established the United States Mint, and regulated the coinage of the United States. [1]
The third Philadelphia Mint was built at 1700 Spring Garden Street and opened in 1901. It was designed by William Martin Aiken, Architect for the Treasury, but it was constructed under James Knox Taylor. In one year alone, the mint produced 501 million coins (5/7 of the U.S. currency minted), and 90 million coins for foreign countries. [3]
In 1968, it took over most proof-coinage production from Philadelphia, [19] and since 1975, it has been used almost exclusively for proof coinage, with the exceptions of the Anthony dollar (1979–1981), [20] a portion of the mintage of cents in the early 1980s, (these cents are indistinguishable from those minted at Philadelphia), and a small ...
The half cent and cent were made of pure copper, the half dime, dime, quarter, half, and dollar in 90% silver, and the quarter, half and full eagle in .9167 gold (later changed to .8992 in 1834, and then 90% gold in 1837). All of the coins featured Liberty on the front and a bald eagle on the back. This period of coinage covers several designs.
The first known proposal for a decimal-based coinage system in the United States was made in 1783 by Thomas Jefferson, Benjamin Franklin, Alexander Hamilton, and David Rittenhouse. Hamilton, the nation's first Secretary of the Treasury, recommended the issuance of six such coins in 1791, in a report to Congress. Among the six was a silver coin ...
French-made coining press from 1831 (M.A.N., Madrid) Between 1817 and 1830 the German engineer Dietrich "Diedrich" Uhlhorn invented the Presse Monétaire, a level coin press which became known as the Uhlhorn Press. His steam driven knuckle-lever press made him internationally famous, and over 500 units had been sold by 1840. [12]
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John Hull was authorized by the Massachusetts legislature to make the earliest coinage of the colony (the willow, the oak, and the pine tree shilling) in 1652. [1] Because few coins were minted in the Thirteen Colonies, which later became the United Colonies and then the United States, foreign coins like the Spanish dollar were widely circulated.