Liberty-Cap Cent

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LIBERTY-CAP CENT

LIBERTY-CAP CENT, a U.S. coin, about an inch in diameter, struck by the U.S. mint at Philadelphia, 1793–1796. On the obverse is a bust of Liberty with a pole over the left shoulder surmounted by a round hat called a liberty cap. The image of the liberty cap was borrowed from France, where it had symbolized the egalitarian spirit in the late eighteenth century.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Department of the Treasury, Bureau of the Mint. Domestic and Foreign Coins Manufactured by Mints of the United States, 1793–1980. Washington, D.C.: Department of the Treasury, Bureau of the Mint, 1981.

Taxay, Don. The United States Mint and Coinage: An Illustrated History from 1776 to the Present. New York: Arco Publishing, 1966.

Thomas L.Harris/a. r.

See alsoCurrency and Coinage ; Liberty, Concept of ; Liberty Poles ; Mint, Federal ; Treasury, Department of the .