Unlike the original mint building, the second facility at the corner of Chestnut and Juniper Streets in Philadelphia was designed to utilize steam power. The first steam-powered coining press was expected to debut on February 22, 1836, but a mechanical problem delayed the initial operation until March 23. Sample dies were prepared with the February date, with a few impressions struck on screw presses in anticipation of the event. However, the delayed initial operation meant that those dies were overdated, with MAR 23 engraved over FEB 22. Once all was set, the First Steam Coinage medals were struck on large cent planchets.

This example is engraved "The Very First" on the edge at 12 o'clock and it was presented to Mint Director Robert Maskell Patterson who oversaw the steam coinage developments. He wrote that day to Treasury Secretary Levi Woodbury: "I also send, by this mail, some copper pieces struck at the mint today on our new press by steam. They are the first ever struck by this power in America. We must consider this day, therefore, as marking an epoch in our coinage."

It is fitting that this impressive Gem is offered at the auction of the ANA Convention, since the very same press is displayed today at the museum of the American Numismatic Association in Colorado Springs, Colorado.