Q. David Bowers
A commentary upon and summary of the 1795 plugged dollars by Kenneth E. Bressett follows; (Created for inclusion in this book.)
Certain United States silver dollars dated 1795 are known to have a silver plug in the center of the coin. This plug was imbedded in the planchet prior to the coin being struck by regular dies. In some cases the only evidence of the plug is a tell-tale seam or discoloration at the center of the coin on one or both sides.
Just why a plug was added to these coins is a mystery. Most silver dollars of 1795 do not have such a plug, and no other dollars of any other date have been seen with this feature. As far as is now known no other coin denomination in the regular United States series was officially altered with a plug of any kind. The only similar occurrence can be found in the 1792 silver center patterns where a silver plug was added to a copper planchet prior to striking the coin.
The 1795 dollars with silver plug have been known to a few students for the past decade, but no one has been able to determine the reason for this strange alteration to normal coinage. It is reasonable to believe that many such pieces have been overlooked in the past because of the subtle difference in appearance. The number of pieces originally made can only be roughly estimated by the availability of surviving specimens. The fact that about a dozen pieces were identified by the author in a six-month period indicates that the coinage was perhaps quite extensive.
All of the examined dollars of 1795 with plug are of the Flowing Hair type. None of the 1795 Draped Bust type pieces have been observed with this feature, Varieties seen are: BB-11, 13, 14, 18, and 21 (equivalent to Bolender-3, 9, 4, 7 and 1 . respectively). Each of these varieties is also known with plentiful specimens of normally made coins without the plug. In each case the plugs were inserted before the coins were struck, as they were flattened by the dies and carry impressions of the design. The plugs average about 8 mm. in diameter and are always located in the exact center of the coin. The effect can usually be seen on both sides.
It has been suggested by Q. David Bowers that the striking sequence of1795 dollars indicates that BB-11, 13, 14, 18, and 21 were varieties made earlier than many of the others, but no earlier than late summer 1795. It also seems likely that all of the silver plug pieces were made in 1795 and none later.
The use of multiple dies for striking plugged pieces seems to negate the possibility of the plug being used to alter the fineness of these coins. The notion of that possibility was originally suggested by the author and Roger W. Burdette, among others, because of the situation created by Mint director David Rittenhouse whereby he allowed coins to be made of an illegal standard to reconcile the strange .8924 fineness (1485/1664) mandated by Congress. A plug might have been used to correct or adjust coins found to be too far from the authorized fineness.
A simpler, and more plausible solution seems to be in the use of the plug to adjust the weight of these coins. Planchet preparation in those days was costly and time consuming. Any that were too heavy could be filed to remove excess metal, but those that were underweight had to be melted and remade into blanks. An alternate remedy may have been to cut a hole in the center of the blank, insert a plug of proper weight and then stamp the coin.
Evidence of this later theory comes from testing known pieces to ascertain the metal content of coin and plug. If plugs were added to adjust the fineness they should be lower than the basic coins which according to Rittenhouse were of a fineness higher than specified by law. If on the other hand the. plugs were added to adjust the weight, they would be of a fineness similar to the rest of the coin.
Testing by spectrographic x-ray analysis showed that most of the coins with plugs were made of the same alloy both in the plug area and in the surrounding coin. One showed that the plug was of higher fineness, and one of lower fineness. Although the tests were inconclusive as to the nature and reason for being added to these coins, it seems safe to conclude that the most likely reason was to add silver to underweight planchets. Why this was done only on silver dollar blanks and only for the Flowing Hair pieces remains a mystery. Perhaps it was an experimental practice tried on the blanks that were made and stored for a time awaiting a more powerful coinage press.
By May 6, 1795, a large press was. put into use and delivery of 3,810 silver dollars took place. Thereafter followed many thousands. of additional pieces, some of which were surely made from the stockpile of silver dollar planchets that had been in waiting since late 1794.
Perhaps we will never know exactly why the Mint made these unusual silver plug dollars. Their existence and purpose has been hidden for nearly 200 years. Are there other coins like these in the United States series? Hopefully knowledge of these pieces will lead to still other unexplored areas of numismatics that no one before suspected. It is discoveries like these that keep the hobby alive and enjoyable.
Similar circumstances occurred at the Lima (Peru) Mint in 1805, according to a passage from Narrative of Voyages and Travels in the Northern and Southern Hemispheres+
The next process is the weighing; the person who performs this has a little square box containing silver pins that are no longer than the thickness of a dollar, and of different weights and sizes; the dollars are thrown one by one into the scales, but it is seldom that any of them are too heavy. When they are, they generally pass them without notice, but if any are too light, a pin is thrown into the scale, which brings it to the standard weight. The dollar is then put under a screw that has a pointed instrument in the end of it, which is screwed down and pierces a hole in the dollar sufficiently large to receive the pin; then it is placed under another screw, with a smooth end, which completely fastens the pin in the coin; they are then passed into another room and scoured ... (after the pieces were coined) ... the master stepped to the pile and took a handful which he brought to me to inspect, and shewed me where the pins were put in to make up the weight, which were very plain to see.