What really happened to the 1815 large cent?

[rocks3211]

So what actually happened to the 1815 large Cent penny? I have heard speculations that since the US was at war with Britain, (who was their main material

supplier for coins) they could not get any shipments of copper to the US. Now I'm no historian, but there were other countries where the US could have

acquired the copper needed to formulate their pennies. I guess you can say that the US needed the copper for weapons, but they could have done what they

did in 1943-1944 with regard to the pennies (switch from copper to steel). So again my question is, (1)what was the US mint doing for that whole year, if they

were not producing pennies? (2)What is the REAL story as to why there was no 1815 large cent produced? (3)Were there any 1815 pennies that were produced

by "mistake" and somehow scurried their way to the world economy

 

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[Charlie P. (NY)]

Not just copper. At the time (1812 & prior) we bought the raw planchets from Boulton of Birmingham, England. They ran out in 1814 before the US was producing them itself; and in fact we went back to Boulton in 1815 when the war was over. The mint shows 465,500 were struck before 12/31/1815 . . . but there is speculation they were either dated 1814 (using the existing dies) or 1816.

 

[b3y0nd3r]

What metal could they possibly use to substitute? Their choices were limited. Couldn't use gold or silver too precious. Couldn't use iron or brass, not worth a penny made of copper. Couldn't use steel or aluminum, wasn't invented yet.

Don't forget, small change(pennies, nickels) were in huge demand. They would be like dollar bills in a dollar store. Nobody could break larger denominations without the smaller denomination coinage. So imagine you have .50 cents for the month, you go to the store to buy a few things and maybe costs 8 cents. If the store didn't have small denomination coinage, they would have to spend the rest. A lot of stores had customers that had a tab, and would pay it at the end of the month with large denominations.

 

[rocks3211]

So basically, you don't think that there were any 1815 pennies mistakenly made, do you?

 

[Charlie P. (NY)]

"Mistakenly" made? No. The mint was authorized to strike 1815 Cents (the US mint has never produced pennys) and they reported that they did strike cents that year.

They are just ultra scarce so it seems few were produced with that year (so collectors believe 1814 or 1816 dies likely were used). We know some were, because a die was cut (and used at least four times/strikes - at least for proofs) and they exist in collections.

 

[123 Galway]

How about this one