A tidbit for Feuchtwanger fans. 0

[RWB]

Massachusetts Historical Society, JQAdams Diary, volume 33 12 September 1837. Photos by NGC.

12. IV:30. Tuesday.

Feuchtwanger— Lewis Dr Heinecke— Samuel

Dr Feuchtwanger, brought me a Letter of introduction from Col. Abert.— He has a project for contracting to coin cents from a composition of zinc, copper and nickel, called German silver— He has coined counters with his name, and one cent stamped upon them, of which he shewed [sic] me several— They are clean, and about the size of a ten cent piece— He makes table furniture and all Articles usually plated of the same composition, costing about one fourth as much, and looking nearly as well as silver— He had a memorial which he wished me to present, but I advised him to make some alterations in it— And I suggested to him the expediency, of having a coinage of 2 and 3. cent pieces of his composition, instead of throwing the copper coinage of cents out of circulation.

[In the last sentence, Adams means that Feuchtwanger should propose his alloy for 2 or 3-cent coins and not for cents because that would keep the copper pieces in circulation. RWB]

Edited March 20, 2023 by RWB
corrected spelling

[Zebo]

I consider these a contender for a box of twenty. Too bad he didn’t strike a few two cent coins - would be interesting to see. 

[RWB]

Documents show that Mint objections were based on difficulty of recovering usable alloy from the scissel after cutting blanks, and annealing problems. The Melter & Refiner and Assayer strongly favored only binary coin alloys, and the Chief Coiner wanted metal that did not require unusual treatment when rolling strips. Had Feuchtwanger accepted removal of zinc (thereby voiding his patent claim), we might have had CuNi cents beginning in 1839 or 40.

Edited March 20, 2023 by RWB

[physics-fan3.14]

I'm familiar with the one cent (although I don't own one). I didn't realize he struck other denominations.