
The coin was made of copper and featured Lady Liberty on the obverse and an eagle on the reverse. The large cent had a face value of 1/100 of a dollar. As a result, it was discontinued in 1857. However, the half-cent was inconvenient to use in everyday transactions and subject to frequent counterfeiting. Its design was similar to the larger copper cents of the time, with an obverse featuring the head of Liberty facing right and a reverse featuring a wreath and the denomination "half-cent" in the centre. It was the smallest denomination ever produced by the US Mint and was worth half a cent, or 1/200th of a dollar. The half-cent was issued from 1793 to 1857. Moreover, we also offer an extensive collection of Civil War tokens, colonial issues, mint sets, proof sets and errors, commemorative issues, and paper money, along with interesting US numismatics books and collecting supplies. The first one-dollar coins featured an image of Liberty on the obverse and an eagle on the reverse.Īt VCoins, you can purchase certified, high-grade examples of a wide variety of US coins, from different kinds of cents (small, large, half dimes etc.) to dollars and gold coins. These coins had the same weight and size as the Spanish piece of eight, which were still in use. Gradually, their production increased, and in 1794 the first one-dollar coins were put into circulation. This coin was followed by the mint of 1 and 2-cent pieces. The first official United States minted coin was the Half Cent, first produced in 1792 along with the passing of the Coinage Act of 1792. Finally, the US Mint was established in 1792, and the dollar became the country’s official currency.

However, this currency quickly lost value due to overprinting and lack of backing, leading to hyperinflation.

After the Revolution, the US government began to issue paper money known as "Continental currency" to finance the war. This coin had the same weight and size as other European silver issues, known in different languages as Thaler, daler, daalder or tallero, from which the name dollar derived. In fact, pieces of 8 were legal currency in the USA until 1857.

Later on, they adopted the use of the Spanish piece of 8, which was the most widespread currency in the world at that time. The first English settlers used materials such as shells, rice and tobacco for their transactions since it was very difficult for them to obtain English currency. Which coins were used before the US dollar?
