Owner Comments:
We have grown so accustomed to the high-tech efficient production of US coinage, it is sometimes hard to fathom that at one time, there was a serious debate as to whether to form a national mint, or simply "contract out" that work to a private third party or entity. By resorting to the latter course, many difficulties could have been averted, among them: the headaches associated with startup costs, equipment, buildings, bullion and copper acquisition, and finding skilled and unskilled personnel.
While Congress was busy determining its best course, British firms aggressively pursued this potentially lucrative business. To that end, W. and Alexander Walker, merchants from Birmingham, retained the services of John Gregory Hancock, an extraordinarily talented teenage phenom, to create dies for a proposed US coinage at a mint in England run by John and Obadiah Westwood. The copper coins which he created, dated 1791, have come to be known as the Large Eagle and Small Eagle Cents. These quality pieces feature a portrait of George Washington on the obverse, and a large or small eagle on the reverse. The coin pictured above is that of the Large Eagle variety.
In due course, a cask containing some 4,000 coins (estimated at 2,500 Large Eagle and 1,500 Small Eagles Cents) were sent to an agent in Philadelphia for distribution to cabinet officers, senators and congressmen. Although they were intended as experimental demonstration pieces, almost all appear to have entered circulation as usable coinage.
Although the 1791 Large and Small Eagle Cents provided a relatively cheap quality alternative, no private third party contracts were ever awarded to a British concern. Strong seeds had already been sown in furtherance of establishing a national mint, and such luminaries as George Washington and Thomas Jefferson were enthusiastically on board. In any event, Washington would have frowned on the use of his portrait on any money, as it was too reminiscent of the egotistical depiction of royals on British coinage. It was not until 1909, that a president first appeared on a regularly circulating US coin, (deceased Abraham Lincoln on the one cent).
The engraver, John Gregory Hancock, was also credited with creating the 1792 Washington Roman Cent, as well as the 1791 Liverpool Halfpenny and Washington Ship Halfpenny. Some uniface cent trial pieces exist, with a few struck in alternative metal. Over the years, many 1791 Large and Small Eagle Cents have migrated to America from British dealers and collectors.