Learn About Massachusetts Cents and Half Cents
After Massachusetts had issued their earlier copper coinage, although, in extremely limited numbers, they knew that they had the ability to strike their own coinage. So on October 16, 1786, an Act establishing a Mint within Massachusetts, and for striking Gold, Silver and Copper coins, was passed by the Massachusetts House and Senate and signed into law by the Governor, John Hancock. Construction on the Mint began and Captain Joshua Wetherle was appointed as the official mintmaster. Wetherle was a Boston goldsmith and a Captain in the Massachusetts Militia. He was to supervise the striking of Massachusetts’ copper coinage.
The coins were to be struck in both Cent and Half Cent denominations – the first coins to be struck using the denominations that the Federal government had mandated in 1785. The Act stipulated that the obverse depict a Native American holding a bow and arrow with a star (*) separating the world “COMMON * WEALTH” above him. The reverse of that coin would depict a large American Bald Eagle, with wings spread, a shield upon its chest, the denomination “CENT” or “HALF CENT” (in two lines) upon the shield and the word “MASSACHUSETTS” and the date “1787” or “1788” around the periphery.
The dies were produced by Joseph Callender, an engraver with an office located on State Street in Boston. Callender had been an apprentice for Paul Revere. But Callender overpriced his dies to the Commonwealth so the contract went to a 22-year-old engraver from Newburyport on the North Shore, Jacob Perkins. When the costs of the minting of these copper coins have been proposed the proposal omitted such items as the costs of the dies and the numbers of dies that would be required to produce the coinage that the Commonwealth desired. This led to the actual costs of the coins being more than double the face value of each coin.
The first coin to be struck at this new mint was the 1787 Massachusetts Half Cent.
The Massachusetts copper coinage of 1788 had only three major types – the 1788 Half Cent, the 1788 Cent with a “Period After Massachusetts” and the 1788 Cent with “No Period After Massachusetts.”
The next coin to be struck was the 1787 Massachusetts One Cent coin, of which there are three major varieties: Arrows in the Eagle’s right talon (Very Rare), Arrows in the Eagle’s left talon and the “Horned Eagle” which was caused by a die break.
All of the Massachusetts copper coins were well received and stayed in circulation for several decades as well as even circulating in neighboring states. They were struck on high-quality copper planchets and were very well produced.
On November 17, 1788, the Commonwealth of Massachusetts ordered the mint closed once its current supply of copper was depleted and all of its coins were struck. On Friday, January 23, 1789, the Massachusetts mint finally closed its doors for good as the new Federal Constitution of the United States made the coining of money a federal rather than a state function.
| Date | Type | Mintage | VG Value | AU Value |
| 1787 | Half Cent | Approx. 72,000 | $150 | $1400 |
| 1787 | Cent – Arrows in Right | Approx. 90,000 | $17,500 | $125,000 |
| 1787 | Cent – Arrows in Left | Included Above | $125 | $1,250 |
| 1787 | Cent – Horned Eagle | Included Above | $150 | $2,500 |
| 1788 | Half Cent | Approx. 37,000 | $150 | $1,500 |
| 1788 | Cent – Period After Mass. | Approx. 220,000 | $125 | $2,650 |
| 1788 | Cent – No Period After Ma. | Included Above | $125 | $2,650 |
This equals about 110,000 half cents and about 300,000 cents. The total estimated production was approximately 400,000 coins struck. The Massachusetts copper coinage is a collection that only has one very difficult coin to locate – the 1787 Cent with Arrows in the Right Talon. Otherwise, it is a collection that can easily be completed with a moderate amount of effort.
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