A common missconception is that to '
Coin' a phrase means that you are the first
person say/write a phrase that is then adopted by the general public.
In fact, to 'coin a phrase' is the first
person to earn a buck from it - for example: in the press.
"When you come down to 'brass tacks' - if we may be allowed the expression - everybody is governed by selfishness."
All of the other known
early citations either originate in, or refer to,
Texas. It is reasonable to
assume that the phrase was coined there, in or about the 1860s.