History of coins · 1792
1792: The United States Mint
The Coinage Act creates the US Mint in Philadelphia and a decimal dollar divided into 100 cents.
On 2 April 1792, Congress passed the Coinage Act. It established the United States Mint in Philadelphia, made the dollar the unit of account and introduced a decimal system – long before most European countries.
Early US coins from the 1790s are rare and can be extremely valuable, especially the first silver dollars. Because of their value, they are also frequent targets of counterfeiters, so certification by a grading service is standard.
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