When collectors talk about early United States silver dollars, the discussion invariably centers on the Draped Bust coins of 1795-1804. As early as the 1850s, these were extremely popular with collectors. The beginning of this design goes back to 1795, when silver coinage was less than a year old at the Philadelphia Mint.
Less than 2,000 dollars were struck in 1794, the first year of coinage, but with the arrival of a more powerful press in late April 1795, coinage resumed strongly. Through the remainder of that year, more than 200,000 pieces were delivered by Chief Coiner Henry Voight. Perhaps the most interesting feature of the early dollar coinage is that it was technically illegal.
The basic mint act of April 1792 required that silver coins be struck at a standard of .8924+ fine, but during the summer of 1794, Assayer Albion Cox persuaded Mint Director David Rittenhouse that Congress had been wrong in choosing this odd fineness and the coins struck from such an alloy would soon turn black. He suggested .900 instead.
Rittenhouse not only accepted this bizarre argument but decided to keep the whole matter a secret, even from the president. Worse, the gross weight of the dollar was not changed, which had the effect of putting too much silver in each coin and thus defrauding the depositors. On this basis, the coinage of silver began in mid-October 1794.
Although coinage was going well in the spring of 1795, Rittenhouse’s health was not,
