Our forefathers traded gold by its weight and purity, as money was gold, and gold was money.

The first gold coins did not have a denomination on them. The three denominations of Early Gold are the $10 Eagle, $5 Half-Eagle, and $2.50 Quarter-Eagle. Each Early Gold coin was handmade, creating an alluring surface strike that the future steam press production after 1834 could never replicate. These coins were struck on a screw press, powered by human muscle. His successor was Henry William DeSaussure, who was immediately urged by President Washington to proceed with the production of gold coins, which were authorized in the Mint Act three years earlier.Ĭhief Engraver, Robert Scot had been working on the dies for the Half-Eagles which were ready by Jwhen the first U.S.