1792 Birch Cent

The first American cent

The Coinage Act of April 2, 1792, created the U.S. Mint and called for a copper cent of 11 pennyweights, or 264 grains. A coin that heavy would have been large and awkward, roughly twice the size of the British halfpence and other coppers then in American pockets, and the Mint spent the rest of the year testing what a cent should be.

The Birch cents are the large copper answer. They are the only 1792 cent patterns that could have been struck before mid-December, when the silver center and fusion cents were made inside the new Mint. Comparing the signed Birch bust with the 1792 half dismes, catalogers conclude the two are almost certainly by the same hand and were probably struck at about the same time, likely in the late summer of 1792. One auction catalog calls the Birch cent, simply, the first American cent.

The obverse shows Liberty with flowing hair, the legend LIBERTY PARENT OF SCIENCE & INDUSTRY, the date 1792 and the name BIRCH on the truncation of the bust. The reverse has ONE CENT inside a wreath, UNITED STATES OF AMERICA around it and the fraction 1/100 below.

Birch, Jefferson and a missing word

The coin takes its name from its engraver, usually identified as Robert Birch. The sources consulted here say little else about him.

Secretary of State Thomas Jefferson oversaw the Mint in 1792. On August 23, Washington asked him for material for his annual message to Congress. Jefferson's draft, sent on October 15, reported a small beginning in the coinage of the half dismes and Cents. Alexander Hamilton, who shaped the final speech, kept the half dismes and dropped the cents. No one knows why. Catalogers have wondered whether the coins looked too big, whether too few were struck to mention, or whether Washington disliked seeing his own initials on the first version.

Those initials appear on the rarest variety, Judd-6, struck in white metal, whose reverse reads G*W. Pt., for George Washington, President. It may have been a nod to the Senate version of the Mint law, which wanted the President's portrait on the coins; the House preferred Liberty and won. Only one example of that experiment survives.

Four varieties and a motto on the edge

There are four Birch cent varieties. The unique white-metal Judd-6 came first. The three copper varieties use the same dies with different edges: plain (Judd-3, two known), lettered TO BE ESTEEMED * BE USEFUL * with two stars (Judd-4, the variety of this coin), and lettered TO BE ESTEEMED BE USEFUL * with one star (Judd-5, two known).

Researcher Leonard Augsburger has suggested the edges may line up with different weight standards: the Judd-5 coins weigh 262.2 and 240.6 grains, close to the 264-grain law; Judd-4 coins range from 193 to 220.8 grains, near the later 208-grain standard; and the plain-edge Jay-Park coin weighs 226 grains. One cataloger thinks the spread reflects an experimental issue more than a deliberate plan.

Most Judd-4 survivors are heavily worn. One sits in the Colonial Williamsburg collection and another in the National Numismatic Collection at the Smithsonian, so only a few can ever change hands. Sources differ on the count: an auction catalog lists seven Judd-4 coins, while PCGS co-founder David Hall wrote that eight are known.

From the Garrett collection to a record

This coin is the finest known Birch cent. It was part of the John Work Garrett collection, long held by Johns Hopkins University, and when that collection was sold in 1981 it brought $200,000, according to David Hall. Collector Donald G. Partrick later owned it as part of a group of twelve 1792 patterns.

On January 8, 2015, at the Florida United Numismatists show in Orlando, the Partrick 1792 patterns sold for more than $10 million in all. The Birch cent, graded NGC MS65* Red and Brown with CAC approval and noted for its color and prooflike surfaces, hammered at $2.2 million. With the buyer's fee it realized $2,585,000. Dealer Kevin Lipton was the buyer. The price beat a record set the day before by a 1793 chain cent at $2.35 million.

Other Birch cents sold the same year. The Partrick Judd-5, graded MS61 Brown and the finer of the two known, brought $564,000 that night; the other Judd-5 had sold for $86,250 in 2009. In March 2015 a Judd-4 with the oldest recorded pedigree of the variety, graded PCGS AU58 with CAC approval, sold for $1,175,000. That coin had brought $85 in 1890.

How to know a Birch cent

Look for the name BIRCH on the truncation of Liberty's bust, the long legend LIBERTY PARENT OF SCIENCE & INDUSTRY, and a coin about 32.5 millimeters across, much larger than the silver center cent. The edge identifies the variety: two stars in the lettering mean Judd-4; one star means Judd-5; no lettering means Judd-3.

Color matters: the Garrett-Partrick coin keeps a mix of original red and brown that catalogers single out, while most survivors are worn to brown.

The numbers

Mintage

Not recorded; a few test pieces

Known survivors

Judd-4: 7 (auction catalog) or 8 (David Hall); all Birch varieties about 10 to 12

Diameter

32.5 mm

Weight

Judd-4 examples 193 to 220.8 grains

Composition

Copper (Judd-3, -4, -5); white metal (Judd-6)

Edge

Lettered TO BE ESTEEMED * BE USEFUL *

Designer

Signed BIRCH, usually identified as Robert Birch

This coin's grade

NGC MS65* Red and Brown, CAC; called MS65 Brown by David Hall

Timeline

1. Apr 2, 1792

   The Coinage Act creates the U.S. Mint and sets the cent at 264 grains of copper.

2. Aug 23, 1792

   Washington asks Jefferson for material for his annual message to Congress.

3. 1792

   Birch cents are struck, probably in late summer, before any other 1792 cent pattern.

4. Oct 15, 1792

   Jefferson's draft reports a small beginning in the coinage of half dismes and cents; Hamilton drops the cents.

5. Dec 17, 1792

   Henry Voigt strikes the first silver center cents inside the Mint.

6. Jun 1890

   A Judd-4 Birch cent brings $85 in a New York sale.

7. 1981

   The Garrett specimen sells for $200,000.

8. 2009

   A Judd-5 Birch cent in low grade sells for $86,250.

9. Jan 8, 2015

   The Garrett-Partrick Judd-4, NGC MS65* Red and Brown, sells for $2,585,000 in Orlando.

10. Jan 8, 2015

    The Partrick Judd-5, MS61 Brown, sells for $564,000.

11. Mar 2015

    A PCGS AU58 Judd-4 with a pedigree back to 1882 sells for $1,175,000.

The world in 1792

• Feb 20, 1792

  Washington signs the Postal Service Act, creating the Post Office Department.

• Apr 5, 1792

  Washington issues the first presidential veto.

• May 17, 1792

  The Buttonwood Agreement begins what becomes the New York Stock Exchange.

• Jun 1, 1792

  Kentucky is admitted as the 15th state.

• Oct 13, 1792

  The cornerstone of the President's House, later the White House, is laid.

• Dec 3, 1792

  George Washington is reelected president.

Price record

A realized auction price is what a buyer actually paid on the date shown, including the buyer's premium where the sale reported it. It is the strongest kind of reference price, and it is a record of one sale of one object on one day, not a promise of what the next example will bring.

By reference price, 1792 Birch Cent is number 13 of 100 in the coins entries of the FLOAT 100. 96 of those 100 rest on a realized sale; the rest carry an asking price or a guide value, and each page says which. Rank within the FLOAT 100 itself (88 here) is editorial: how much an object defines its field, not price alone.

Did you know

• The rarest Birch cent carries the initials G*W. Pt., for George Washington, President, and only one is known.
• Jefferson's draft of Washington's 1792 message to Congress mentioned the first cents; Hamilton took the word out.
• The edge motto TO BE ESTEEMED BE USEFUL turned the coin into a small civics lesson.
• A Birch cent that sold for $85 in 1890 brought $1,175,000 in 2015.
• The Garrett-Partrick coin's $2,585,000 broke a record for a cent that had been set only the day before.
• Two Judd-4 Birch cents are permanently held by institutions: Colonial Williamsburg and the Smithsonian.