1798 US Coins: Values & Mintages

The Mint in the 1790s

The Coinage Act of April 2, 1792 created the United States Mint and set the dollar as the basic unit of money. The Mint was built in Philadelphia, then the nation's capital, on Seventh Street. David Rittenhouse, the astronomer and scientist, was its first director and Henry Voigt served as chief coiner. Robert Scot became the first engraver in 1793 and cut the dies for most designs of the decade.

Coining was slow and hard work. Presses were turned by hand and silver and gold were coined only when depositors brought in bullion or foreign coins to be converted. Copper was always short; the Mint bought scrap and sheet copper wherever it could and from 1797 relied on planchets shipped from Matthew Boulton's works in Birmingham, England. Yellow fever epidemics in Philadelphia closed the Mint for weeks at a time in the late 1790s, which is one reason some dates of the decade are so scarce.

How many coins were made in 1798

Counting the circulation issues on this page, US mints struck 1,869,295 coins dated 1798 across 2 issues. That is 93% more than in 1797 (967,298). In 1799 the figure fell to 42,540.

No earlier year on our list comes close: it was the largest output up to that point.

Every circulation coin on this page came from Philadelphia.

Those coins held about 2,134 troy ounces of pure silver.

1798 coins by denomination

Cents: 1,841,745 struck in 1 circulation issue of the Draped Bust Large Cent, up 105% on 1797.

Dimes: 27,550 struck in 1 circulation issue of the Draped Bust Dime, up 9.1% on 1797.

Every 1798 circulation issue at a glance

• 1798 Draped Bust Dime: 27,550 struck, more than 56% of the series' 10 issues, similar to 1797.
• 1798 Draped Bust Large Cent: 1,841,745 struck, more than 73% of the series' 12 issues, up from 897,510 in 1797.

Draped Bust Large Cent: Gilbert Stuart's portrait and the overdate years

Robert Scot adapted Gilbert Stuart's portrait of Liberty for the cent in late 1796, keeping the 168 grain weight. The early dies vary a great deal: 1796 alone has several reverse styles plus the famous LIHERTY error, where the B was cut over an R. In 1797 the Mint used both stemmed and stemless wreaths. Copper planchets bought from Matthew Boulton's works in Birmingham, England, began to supplement American copper late in the decade and improved quality.

The Mint saved money by reusing old dies, which created the 1798/7 overdate, the 1799/8 and the two 1800 overdates (over 1798 and over 179). The 1799 is the key of the whole design: only 42,540 cents were reported that year, partly because yellow fever closed the Mint and many cents struck in 1799 still carried the 1798 date. Most 1799 cents survive heavily worn. Altered dates are common, so experts check the shape of every digit.

Dies in this period were cut and recut by hand, so a single date can show several arrangements of digits, stems and berries in the wreath. The 1799 overdate and the 1800 overdates over 1798 and 1799 belong to these years. Collectors attribute the different dies by Sheldon numbers, from Penny Whimsy, the standard reference on early cents.

See every Draped Bust Large Cent →

Draped Bust Dime: The heraldic eagle and small runs

In 1798 the dime received a new reverse, while the obverse kept thirteen stars from then on. The new reverse was the heraldic eagle adapted from the Great Seal. The eagle has a shield on its breast and holds arrows and an olive branch. A ribbon in its beak reads E PLURIBUS UNUM and stars and clouds sit above its head. The same eagle was used on the quarter eagle. Because the two coins were almost the same size, the Mint sometimes shared reverse dies between them.

Mintages stayed small. The figures of this period record coins delivered in each calendar year, not coins of each date. Philadelphia delivered 27,550 dimes in 1798, a total that includes 1798/97 overdates and a Small 8 variety. No dimes are dated 1799. In 1800 there were 21,760, in 1801 34,640, in 1802 just 10,975 and in 1803 33,040. The 1802 is the scarcest of these dates.

All of these dates are scarce and collectors attribute them by die pairs using JR numbers, from the standard reference published by the John Reich Collectors Society. When you check a dime from these years, read the date carefully. The 1798/97 shows traces of a 7 under the 8. Then look at the reverse to confirm the heraldic eagle. Most survivors are in low grades with soft strikes in places, which is normal for coins of the time.

See every Draped Bust Dime →