Getz Patterns

About This Coin

Pattern coins prepared by Peter Getz of Lancaster, Pennsylvania, in 1792 as proposed designs for United States half dollar and cent coinage. Getz's patterns feature Washington's bust with WASHINGTON PRESIDENT legend and eagle reverses in both small and large designs. Original strikings are among the rarest and most valuable colonial-era coins, with the small eagle half dollar selling for over $1.7 million at auction. In the 1860s, Philadelphia diesinker Christopher Idler acquired the original dies and produced limited restrike copies in copper, bronze, white metal, and silvered white metal for the collector market. The Getz patterns represent one of the most important groups in the Washington series.