Scot modeled the Draped Bust design after a drawing by artist Gilbert Stuart. It is reported that the model for the "Draped Bust" coins was Anne Bingham. Ms. Bingham achieved noterety similar to today's pop stars. The Grecian-style "Draped Bust" has been very popular in American coinage.

Vital Stats.

"Draped Bust" One Cent

The obverse depicts Liberty with flowing hair, a ribbon behind her head and drapery at her neckline. LIBERTY is inscribed above the bust and the date below. The reverse features the denomination ONE CENT, encircled by an open wreath of two olive branches tied with a bow. UNITED STATES OF AMERICA surrounds the wreath, and the fraction 1/100 is between the ends of the bow.

There are three varieties of reverses; each varies the leaves and berries on the wreath. They are known as the "Type of 1794," "Type of 1795" or "Type of 1797." All three types were used on the reverse of 1796 cents, with the last two types were used on the 1797. The last reverse was used from 1797 through 1807.

Because the lettering was hand punched into the dies, errors were prevelant. One shuch blunder is the "LIHERTY" error where the "B" was rotated 180 degrees before being punched and then crudely corrected. Another is the "T" over "Y" blunder in 1802. There were many other variations involving spacing and positioning of the letters and dates.

Many of these coins were used to make jewelry, which may partially account for their scaresity and explain why so many have holes punched in them.

In the 1850's, the popularity of coin collecting grew, scarce date production began to spread both on and off the mint premises. Around 1858, the rare 1804 Draped Bust cent was "restruck" using dies sold as scrap metal by the mint. These restrikes are easily distinguished from the originals, tooling to correct flaws in the badly rusted dies is easily detectable. Other restrikes and uniface examples of this date can be found in white metal.