Flowing Hair dollar
The Flowing Hair dollar was the first dollar coin issued by the United States federal government. The coin was minted in 1794 and 1795; its size and weight were based on the Spanish dollar, which was popular in trade throughout the Americas. In October 1795 the design was replaced by the Draped Bust dollar.
About Flowing Hair dollar in brief
The Flowing Hair dollar was the first dollar coin issued by the United States federal government. The coin was minted in 1794 and 1795; its size and weight were based on the Spanish dollar, which was popular in trade throughout the Americas. In 1791, following a study by Alexander Hamilton, Congress passed a joint resolution calling for the establishment of a national mint. Later that year, in his third State of the Union address, President George Washington urged Congress to provide for a mint. Despite the authorization, silver and gold coins were not struck until 1794. In October 1795 the design was replaced by the Draped Bust dollar. The Coinage Act of 1792 provided for the creation of the U.S. Mint, and appropriated money for the construction of an appropriate facility and for employees and officials. The denominations sanctioned under the Act were half cents, quarter dollars, half dollars, quarter eagles, dimes, half dimes and dimes. The new silver coins were to be struck in an alloy containing 1,485 parts out of 1,664 fine silver, with the remainder copper, intended to equal the silver in Spanish dollars. One provision in Morris’ legislation called for President Washington to be depicted on the obverse side of every coin struck by the new mint. On July 31, 1792, the foundation stone of the Philadelphia Mint was laid by newly appointed Director David Rittenhouse and personnel began occupying the new building by September 1792.
The first coins were struck in September 1794, and the first eagles and half eagles were struck on October 1, 1793. The last coins were minted on December 1, 1801, and were the last coins struck on December 31, 1803. The coins were intended to mark the 100th anniversary of the ratification of the Constitution, but the date has been pushed back to 20th century. They were struck by Robert Scot, who designed the design for the 1794 coin. The design was based on Spanish dollars, which were popular in the Americas at the time and were used in trade across the world. The current dollar coin is based on a silver alloy made of 6572 silver parts with the rest of the silver being copper, with a gross weight of 416 grains. The silver content of the dollar coin was determined by Hamilton, who recommended that the dollar should contain 371. 25 grains of silver and have a total weight of416 grains, the balance being copper. Since there were no federal coins issued, the needs of the states were fulfilled by a variety of domestic and foreign coins and tokens, including Spanish peso, eight-real coins. In his third annual address to Congress, delivered on October 25,1791, in Philadelphia, President Washington urged members of Congress to put the joint resolution approved earlier that year into immediate effect. The resolution gave no specifics or appropriations.
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