America's first Large Cents, dated 1793, bore a portrait of Liberty with wild hair flowing in the wind on the obverse, and a chain of thirteen links representing the original thirteen colonies on the reverse. Just a week after this design made its appearance in circulation, an article in a leading Philadelphia newspaper, The Mail, or Claypole's Daily Advertiser (March 18, 1793 edition) noted, "The American Cents [...] do not answer our expectations. The chain on the reverse is but a bad omen for liberty, and Liberty herself appears to be in a fright." The next attempt at a copper Cent coinage was the Wreath Cent (see lot 15), which, although of greater beauty, also saw limited production. The third design of the year was the Liberty Cap style shown here. This design of 1793-1796 was first engraved by portraitist Joseph Wright, the Philadelphia Mint's first Chief Engraver. Wright perished of yellow fever in September 1793, just a few days before the delivery of 11,056 Large Cents bearing his design; it is thought he died before seeing the finished product. In the years 1794 through 1796, a succession of engravers created variations on Wright's Liberty Cap. These include Robert Scot (as noted here), and John Smith Gardner. The Liberty Cap design was retired in 1796, in favor of the Draped Bust (or "Fillet Head") Cents, which remained in general production through 1807.