The US Mint was formed with an act of congress on April 2nd, 1792 to put small coinage into circulation with the introduction of half cents and cents. The first coin minted was the Chain Cent in 1793 with 36,103 example made. Fewer than 1,000 remain today in all conditions.

The next coin the mint produce was also in 1793, a 2nd one cent design known as the Wreath Cent. 63,353 of these were known to be produced, about twice as many as the chain cent. Highly sought after by collectors in all grade.

The final one cent we issued in 1793 was the Liberty Cap which had a lowly mintage of 11,056 making it exceptionally difficult to find. There are 450 estimated to remain. I happen to be fortunate enough to own a Chain, Wreath and Liberty cap and will post them tomorrow.