The Coinage of 1799
Sometime around 1816, a teenager named Joseph Mickley thought it would be interesting to obtain a copper cent carrying his birth date. Unfortunately, he was born in 1799 and it proved very difficult to find such a coin. He did succeed, however, and from this chance encounter with our early coinage a pioneer numismatist was created.
The year 1799 is better known to the general public for another reason. On Dec. 14, George Washington died at his Mt. Vernon home, justly mourned by the nation he was so instrumental in creating. The first president was an enthusiastic backer of the early mint and during 1792 and 1793 was a frequent visitor to the institution, only a few blocks from his official residence on High Street in Philadelphia.
Though little-known today, during 1799 the United States was involved in an undeclared naval war with France. This conflict, which lasted from 1798 through 1800, was marked by several fierce sea battles, especially the victory of Captain Thomas Truxtun over a French frigate in February 1799; it was the first major U.S. naval success since the Revolutionary War. In an odd coincidence, the 1798-1800 war had a numismatic postscript in the 1830s. President Andrew Jackson persuaded France to settle longstanding claims by the United States (including compensation due from the undeclared war),
