In early 1809 Philadelphia Mint workmen struck the last of the old Draped Bust half cents and prepared to coin a new design, that by John Reich. He had been hired as an assistant engraver by Mint Director Robert Patterson in 1807 for the specific task of creating fresh artwork for the gold, silver, and copper coins of the United States. The half cent likely being the least important coin in the eyes of the mint officers, it was the last to get the Reich imprint.
The genesis for the new Reich artwork had come with the arrival of Robert Patterson as mint director in July 1805. Patterson was a Republican (later called Democrat) and had been appointed by President Thomas Jefferson upon the retirement of Elias Boudinot.
In early 1807, after considerable thought, Patterson petitioned the President to let him hire John Reich as an assistant engraver; Reich had emigrated from Germany towards the end of the 1790s and had been freed from an indenture by Chief Coiner Henry Voight. The sum needed for Reich’s annual salary was only $600 but Jefferson was a close man with public dollars and it was some time before the appointment was approved. There was already a chief engraver at the mint, Robert Scot, but Patterson considered him too old to execute what the director had in mind. It may also
