Early in the war of 1812 supplies of copper planchets from the English manufacturer, Boulton & Watt of Liverpool stopped, and by 1814 the last of the imported copper blanks had been turned into "Classic Head" cents.

With no copper Planchets available in 1815, the idle time proved to be very useful. The Mint had been criticized since it struck its first coins in 1793. The Classic Head cent was no exception, critics were quick to point out that the fillet on "Lady Liberty's" head had never been worn by women but was given as a prize to male athletes in Classical times. The down time was used to update mint equipment and processes as well as redesigning the cent. This allowed greater uniformity in coinage.

Vital Stats.

"Matron Head" Cent

Wishing to avoid further embarrassment with the new design, Mint officials bypassed Assistant Engraver John Reich (who had created the Classic Head) and assigned redesign of the cent to Scot. While Scot's creation was a terrible failure from an artistic stand point, there was no doubt of Libertys gender. The fillet holding the hair back was replaced with coronet. The redesign also enlarged the obverse portrait, giving Liberty a much more mature look. While the correct name for the design was the "Coronet" cent, many people call it the "Matron Head" cent.

The reverse was essentially unchanged and retained the "Christmas wreath" of Reich's 1808 design.