In 2013 David McCarthy found a rare coin in the catalog of one of the auctions and immediately suspected that this may be the first coin minted by the United States of America at the dawn of democracy in 1783. Not the first run of coins, mind you, but the first coin. Then McCarthy, an experienced numismatist, bought a silver coin for $1.18 million. But not lost is he?
The man spent the next four years searching for evidence that he actually bought the legendary first fifth of the «500».
In the pursuit of truth
The first attention McCarthy drew to the fact that the coin, which no doubt was one of the two rare Quintus, had inscriptions on the front side. There is another such coin with a Latin inscription «New Constellation, «which translates to «a New constellation». It was found in 1860. Instance, bought McCarthy, was found in about 15 years, so everywhere was designated as «Quint type 2».
He continued his search in the National archives, but received contradictory answers. Then when he went through to the steel diesused to manufacture coins, he found evidence that «two of the stamp has been redesigned and improved after it was made the first coin».
McCarthy compared the embossing on the edges of the coins and the recess in the eye in the center of «500» coins with the inscription and its more modest counterpart. All the evidence pointed to the fact that he found the first coin of the country.
The history of the coin
If the evidence McCarthy is correct, the coin, which he owns, is the one that is mentioned in the diary of Robert Morris, a merchant from Philadelphia, who financed the American revolution and signed the Declaration of independence, and then held the position of chief Treasurer of the United States.
The entry in his diary dated April 2, 1783, States that «a piece of silver, was minted and became the first American coin».
April 22 was released a full set of coins and sent to Thomas Jeffersonto the founding father could look at their design. Coin Morris was to demonstrate a prototype of a digital monetary system that was based on the so-called Spanish dollar and was never adopted.
Price treasures
How much does Quint McCarthy? The closest example of the value of this treasure can become a silver coin, 1794, which was sold for $ 10 million four years ago. Obviously, the very first American coin will cost even more, because it’s not in the piece of metal, and in history, which makes it valuable.
