The Flowing Hair dollar was the first dollar coin issued by the United States federal government. The coin was minted in 1794 and 1795; its size and weight were based on the Spanish dollar, which in turn was based on the tolar minted in Bohemia since 1520. The Spanish dollar was popular in trade throughout the Americas.
In 1791, following a study by Alexander Hamilton, Congress passed a joint resolution calling for the establishment of a national mint. Later that year, in his third State of the Union address, President George Washington urged Congress to provide for a mint, which was officially authorized by the Coinage Act of 1792. Despite the authorization, silver and gold coins were not struck until 1794. The Flowing Hair dollar, designed by Robert Scot, was initially produced in 1794, and again in 1795. In October 1795 the design was replaced by the Draped Bust dollar.
Background
thumb|left|upright|175px|Secretary of the Treasury Alexander Hamilton compiled a report on the American monetary system prior to the establishment of the United States Mint.
Beginning in the 1780s, a large number of prominent Americans called for the establishment of a central mint to supply the United States with official coinage; all such proposals failed due in large part to lack of funds and opposition from individuals and groups who preferred that coins be struck by the individual states. Since there were no federal coins issued, the needs of the states were fulfilled by a variety of domestic and foreign coins and tokens, including Spanish peso, eight-real coins (popularly known as Spanish dollars or pieces of eight). was ratified and came into force. The following year, Congress began deliberating on the state of the nation's monetary system and coinage. As part of his study, Hamilton had a series of assay tests of Spanish dollars performed, as that was the coin upon which the United States monetary system would be based. After viewing the results, the secretary recommended that the silver content of the United States dollar be based on the average silver content of the pesos tested. Hamilton's recommendation was that the dollar should contain 371.25 grains of silver and have a gross weight of 416 grains, the balance being copper. On March 3, 1791, after reviewing Hamilton's report, Congress passed a joint resolution authorizing a federal mint; the resolution, however, gave no specifics or appropriations.
thumb|200px|[[Philadelphia Mint|The Philadelphia Mint, established in 1792, struck its first coins in February 1793. (Photo 1908)]]
In response, the Senate appointed a committee chaired by Robert Morris to draft the necessary specifications and legislation that would officially create a federal mint and coinage.
thumb|left|300px|The Spanish dollar was the basis of the United States silver dollar.
One provision in Morris' legislation called for President Washington to be depicted on the obverse side of every coin struck by the new mint. The law, known as the Coinage Act of 1792, was signed into law on April 2, 1792, by President Washington. The Act provided for the creation of the United States Mint, and appropriated money to meet the cost of construction of an appropriate facility, and for salaries for employees and officials. On March 3, 1794, Congress lowered the bonds to $5,000 and $1,000 for chief coiner and assayer, respectively. After receiving approval, Scot began engraving the hubs for the new silver dollar. Extra care was taken during the engraving of this denomination, because the dollar would be the largest American coin, and would thus receive the most scrutiny from foreign nations. Instead, Cox recommended that the purity be modified to .900 fine, but also that the weight be kept at 416 grains. The silver used for the 1794 dollars came solely from silver ingots deposited with the Mint by Mint Director David Rittenhouse on August 22, 1794. Per a handwritten coin transfer warrant issued by Director Rittenhouse on October 15, 1794, 1,758 silver dollars were transferred from the custody of Chief Coiner Henry Voigt to the custody of Mint Treasurer Dr. Nicholas Way.</blockquote>
The new coinage press was completed in early 1795, and the first group of dollars, totalling 3,810 coins, was delivered on May 6. The coins struck on May 8 may have borne a 1794 date, It is believed that this was done to correct the weight of underweight planchets. In total, 203,033 silver dollars were struck in 1795, but it is unknown exactly how many of those were of the Flowing Hair type, as the Draped Bust dollar succeeded it in October 1795; the Draped Bust dollar was designed by portraitist Gilbert Stuart at the behest of Rittenhouse's successor as Mint Director, Henry DeSaussure.
Collecting
Throughout its history, the 1794 dollar has widely been considered one of the rarest and most valuable of all United States coins. In a September 1880 issue of The Coin Journal, the author noted that a good quality specimen of the 1794 dollar was valued at fifty dollars, equal to $ today. The dollar was graded Specimen-66 by the Professional Coin Grading Service, noting the special conditions under which it was struck. The coin, which had previously been owned by Colonel E.H.R. Green, was sold by Stack's Bowers Galleries in a public auction in January 2013.