1799 US Coins: Values & Mintages

US coinage in 1799

Cents dated 1799 were made in tiny numbers, which makes the 1799 one of the great rarities of the large cent series.

The Mint in the 1790s

The Coinage Act of April 2, 1792 created the United States Mint and set the dollar as the basic unit of money. The Mint was built in Philadelphia, then the nation's capital, on Seventh Street. David Rittenhouse, the astronomer and scientist, was its first director and Henry Voigt served as chief coiner. Robert Scot became the first engraver in 1793 and cut the dies for most designs of the decade.

Coining was slow and hard work. Presses were turned by hand and silver and gold were coined only when depositors brought in bullion or foreign coins to be converted. Copper was always short; the Mint bought scrap and sheet copper wherever it could and from 1797 relied on planchets shipped from Matthew Boulton's works in Birmingham, England. Yellow fever epidemics in Philadelphia closed the Mint for weeks at a time in the late 1790s, which is one reason some dates of the decade are so scarce.

How many coins were made in 1799

Counting the circulation issues on this page, US mints struck 42,540 coins dated 1799 across 1 issue. That is 98% fewer than in 1798 (1,869,295). In 1800 the figure rose to 2,883,935.

It was the smallest output recorded here since the Mint began striking coins.

Every circulation coin on this page came from Philadelphia.

1799 coins by denomination

Cents: 42,540 struck in 1 circulation issue of the Draped Bust Large Cent, down 98% on 1798.

Every 1799 circulation issue at a glance

• 1799 Draped Bust Large Cent: 42,540 struck, the lowest mintage of all 12 Draped Bust Large Cent issues, down from 1,841,745 in 1798.

Draped Bust Large Cent: Gilbert Stuart's portrait and the overdate years

Robert Scot adapted Gilbert Stuart's portrait of Liberty for the cent in late 1796, keeping the 168 grain weight. The early dies vary a great deal: 1796 alone has several reverse styles plus the famous LIHERTY error, where the B was cut over an R. In 1797 the Mint used both stemmed and stemless wreaths. Copper planchets bought from Matthew Boulton's works in Birmingham, England, began to supplement American copper late in the decade and improved quality.

The Mint saved money by reusing old dies, which created the 1798/7 overdate, the 1799/8 and the two 1800 overdates (over 1798 and over 179). The 1799 is the key of the whole design: only 42,540 cents were reported that year, partly because yellow fever closed the Mint and many cents struck in 1799 still carried the 1798 date. Most 1799 cents survive heavily worn. Altered dates are common, so experts check the shape of every digit.

Dies in this period were cut and recut by hand, so a single date can show several arrangements of digits, stems and berries in the wreath. The 1799 overdate and the 1800 overdates over 1798 and 1799 belong to these years. Collectors attribute the different dies by Sheldon numbers, from Penny Whimsy, the standard reference on early cents.

See every Draped Bust Large Cent →