1791 1 C Washington President, D&H Middx 1049, NGC AU53 BN, CAC. Here is a Choice About Uncirculated 1791 Washington Cent that is sought after by US and UK collectors. The coin has hard, glossy surfaces with few abrasion marks or other distractions. The horizontal scratch marks are on the holder not the coin. The light and dark brown colors assure the coins originality. The piece has an above average strike with full details on the obverse legend and date, the elements of Washingtons facial features, the denomination, the eagles right wing, the olive branch, and the arrows. The CAC sticker indicates that the coin is a premium quality piece that fully deserves the assigned grade.
 
The coin, designed by John Gregory Hancock, was struck at the Westwood Mint in Birmingham,
England. It shows a profile portrait of Washington facing left. The surrounding inscription is WASHINGTON PRESIDENT with the date below. The reverse shows an eagle holding in its beak a ribbon inscribed UNUM E PLURIBUS. On the eagles chest is a shield of thirteen vertical stripes. An olive branch of thirteen leaves is in its right talon and a bundle of thirteen arrows is in its left. The edge is lettered UNITED STATES OF AMERICA .x.
 
Hancocks design is one of two samples he made for a proposed federal coinage contract. The two are the Large and Small Eagle reverses. The Small Eagle reverse has eight stars under an arc of clouds. A cask of Large and Small Eagle coins was shipped to America at the time Congress was debating a coinage bill that proposed a portrayal of Washington. Some representatives of the firm to whom the coins were shipped, Thomas Ketland & Sons, showed some of the sample cents to Washington. He immediately rejected the designs as monarchial, and also was opposed to any private contract for United States coinage. The final coinage law, which took effect on April 2, 1792, called for a design that was emblematic of liberty. Presidential portraits were not considered again until 1866 but did not reach coinage until 1909 with the Lincoln cent.
 
Both collectors of Early American coppers and British Conder tokens have interest in this piece. In its population report, NGC shows 8 1791 Large Eagle Washington President pieces certified at the AU 53 grade level. At CAC, as of December 2013, there is 1 1791 Large Eagle Cent confirmed in AU53, the present coin, with 8 better. Less than 6% of all NGC and PCGS certified 1791 Large Eagle Cents have been given CAC stickers.

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