disme

The word dime or disme hinted at much more, however.

Eckfeldt also produced a pattern disme, of which only a few were struck.

In that year several more patterns were created, including the half dime, then known as a "half disme".

For example, the word was spelled "disme" in the legislation that first authorized the minting of dimes.

One indication is the word DISME that appears on the reverse.

The motto on the reverse is "United States of America" and "Disme."

However, others consider the 1792 half disme to be nothing more than a pattern coin, or 'test piece', and this matter continues to be subject to debate.

The half dime, or half disme, was a silver coin, valued at five cents, formerly minted in the United States.

Both "dime" and "disme" are Americanized versions of the French word "dixieme," meaning tenth.

This was an early variation of the word dime and one of the earliest references to the word disme is in a book on decimal arithmetic.

Contursi has bought and sold a number of examples of the 1792 half disme during his career, ranging from the finest known, graded Mint State 68, to circulated specimens.

The then-fledgling United States Government under the Washington administration minted the first coins in 1792, the half disme, according to legend minted from Martha Washington's silverware.

The silver half disme (as the half dime, pronounced the same, was first called) was one of the denominations prescribed by the Mint Act of 1792, its weight and fineness were set by law.

En Germanie naistront diuerses sectes, S'approchant fort de l'heureux paganisme, Le coeur captif & petites receptes, Feront retour à payer le vray disme.

Adam Eckfeldt built early presses for the Mint, engraved some of its early dies, and is responsible for the designs of early American copper coinage, as well as the 1792 half disme which some consider the first United States coin.

Art historian Cornelius Vermeule suggests a similarity between Scot's portrayal of Liberty on the eagle and the portrait on the 1792 half disme (deemed by some the first Federal coinage), and speculates that the ultimate inspiration may have been Martha Washington, the President's wife.

Other later accounts document Eckfeldt's role in this striking: an 1863 auction sold a half disme supposedly given by Eckfeldt to demonstrate his work, while Eckfeldt is given as the source for the tradition that the half dismes were struck at the request of President George Washington to be used as presents.

In late December 2011, Steven L. Contursi, President of Rare Coin Wholesalers, donated a 1792 half disme, graded NGC About Uncirculated 58, to the American Numismatic Association's Edward C. Rochette Money Museum in Colorado Springs, Colorado.