1814 LARGE CENT
Mintage:
Circulation strikes: 357,830
Proofs: None
Designer: John Reich
Diameter: 28-29 millimeters
Metal content:
Copper - 100%
Weight: 168 grains (10.89 grams)
Edge: Plain
Mintmark: None (all 1814 Large
Cents were struck at the Philadelphia Mint)
The following is reprinted with permission from Walter Breen's Encyclopedia of Early United States Cents 1793-1814, by Walter Breen, edited by Mark R. Borckardt
This was a wartime year, and the United States was in dire straits. The embargo of 1807 hurt everyone. Banks suspended specie payments in the summer. The last major deposit of silver reached the Mint September 21 and no more would follow for over a year. On November 13, 1813, for reasons unknown, Thomas T. Tucker, treasurer of the United States, notified the Mint via his agent Tench Coxe that he judged it "advisable at present to abstain from any further distribution of copper coins."
According to R. W. Julian, Chief Coiner Adam Eckfeldt delivered 357,830 cents to Mint Treasurer Benjamin Rush on October 27, exhausting the Mint's supply of cent blanks. Julian estimates that cent coinage must have begun, at earliest, late in September just before the final coinage of dimes. He points out that the half dollar press could be adapted to strike cents, so that possible both pairs of dies were in simultaneous use. The cents were paid out about December 26 to the Bank of Pennsylvania, from which they went to the general public.
Unsurprisingly, gem Uncirculated 1814s are unobtainable, though both varieties of this date are plentiful in all lower grades. |
Images courtesy of Heritage
Numismatic Auctions
Varieties (2):
Crosslet 4
Sheldon 294
- Very Common
Plain 4
Sheldon 295- Very Common
Notes:
According to Alan Herbert,
"Almost the entire output - 357,830 - were used for the Mint
payroll, so nearly all of the cents struck that year
circulated..."
The finest "Crosslet 4" Brown example graded by PCGS is a
single MS-67BN.
The finest "Plain 4" Brown example graded by PCGS is a
single MS-66BN.
Significant
examples:
See variety listings
Recent
appearances:
See variety listings
Sources and/or recommended
reading:
"Penny Whimsy" by Dr. William H. Sheldon
"The PCGS Population Report, October 2003" by The
Professional Coin Grading Service
"Coin
Clinic" by Alan Herbert, Numismatic News, June 12, 2001, page
41 |
