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Silver Center Cent
 The first actual record of
"coins"
struck in the U.S. Mint can be found in Chief Coiner Henry Voigt's
account book on Dec. 17, 1792.
In actuality, the coins were patterns. They were cents made by putting a silver plug
worth three-fourths of a cent into a copper blank worth one-fourth of a cent.
 The Silver Center cent
patterns represent an interesting attempt to produce a smaller coin, yet maintain its
intrinsic value at one cent.
The obverse depicts a female bust with flowing hair and the date 1792. The
reverse has
a laurel wreath and ONE CENT in the center.
Only a handful of genuine specimens exist, with numerous
counterfeits known. The cost
of making the blanks revealed the project's impractical side.
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