1800 Dollar Pattern - Perkins Private Issue, Washington Portrait

Coin Details

Description

The 1800 Washington Dollar by Jacob Perkins is a private pattern dollar-sized piece bearing the portrait of George Washington, produced as part of Perkins's broader campaign to demonstrate his steel-die engraving technology. Dated 1800 — the year of Washington's recent memory following his death in December 1799 — the piece leverages the profound national reverence for the first president to showcase the fine portrait detail achievable with Perkins's hardened steel dies. The dollar-denomination pattern features a portrait of Washington on the obverse, executed with the remarkable precision that Perkins's steel-die process enabled. The reverse carries appropriate inscriptions identifying the denomination. The piece was not intended for circulation but rather as a specimen to impress government officials and potential commercial clients with the superior quality of Perkins's engraving method. Jacob Perkins operated from Newburyport, Massachusetts, and later Philadelphia, developing multiple innovations in die-making, coinage, and printing technology. His experiments with steel engraving represented a genuine technological advance over the copper dies standard at the time, offering vastly greater durability — a single steel die could produce tens of thousands of impressions compared to the few thousand possible from copper. While the United States Mint did not adopt his proposals, Perkins's technology became the foundation of secure banknote printing on both sides of the Atlantic and represents an important chapter in American industrial innovation.

Rarity Notes

Extremely rare. Private pattern pieces produced in negligible quantities for demonstration purposes. Fewer than 10 examples are believed extant. Institutional and advanced specialist collections account for most known specimens.

Cross References

PCGS #893829