Q.David Bowers
Legend tells us that drinks in the local tavern sold at the time for three pence each, and Higley was in the habit of paying his bar bill with his own coinage. There was a cry against this for the Higley copper threepence was of a diameter no larger than the contemporary British halfpennies which circulated in the area; coins which had a value of just 1/6th of that stated on the Higley coin. Accordingly, Higley redesigned his coinage so that the obverse legend was changed to read VALUE ME AS YOU PLEASE. The pieces still bore an indication of value, the Roman numeral III below the standing deer. Two new reverses were designed, one of which pictured three hammers with the inscription I AM GOOD COPPER. The other reverse, picturing a broad axe, had the legend I CUT MY WAY THROUGH. The third obverse design, of which only a single specimen is known, depicted a wagon wheel with the legend THE WHEELE GOES ROUND.
While on a voyage to England in May 1737, on a ship loaded with copper from his own mine, Samuel Higley died. His oldest son, John, together with Rev. Timothy Woodbridge and William Cradock probably engraved and struck the issues of 1739.
Apparently the original Higley coinage was small, and circulation was effected mainly in Granby and its environs. Crosby relates that a goldsmith, who served his apprenticeship around 1810, told that Higley pieces were hard to find at the time and were in demand to use as an alloy for gold. The goldsmith related that his master delayed completing a string of gold beads for he was unable to find a copper Higley threepence with which to alloy the metal.
Today Higley issues of all types are exceedingly rare, and often a span of years will occur between offerings. Nearly all pieces show very extensive evidence of cir-culation, with most grading in the range of Good or Very Good.
Chalmers Coinage
John Chalmers, an Annapolis, Maryland, goldsmith and silversmith, produced in 1783 a series of silver coins of his own design. Values were of threepence, sixpence, and shilling. Several varieties were made.
Dr. John David Schopf, a German who visited America in 1783 and 1784, wrote of his visit to Annapolis and noted that the Chalmers Coinage was initiated to prevent some of the abuses then being practiced with fractional parts of the Spanish dollar. It was customary at the time to cut a Spanish silver dollar into halves, quarters, and eighths, with the eighths being known as "one bit" or 12 1/2 cents. Unscrupulous persons would attempt to cut five "quarters" or nine or ten "eighths" out of one coin, thereby realizing a proportional profit. Schopf reported that Chalmers redeemed various fractional parts and exchanged his own coins for them, charging a commission to do so.
The building in which these pieces were coined stood at Fleet and Cornhill streets. Although the coins had no official status and were privately issued, apparently the government took no exception to them. Coinage ap-parently was quite extensive, for several hundred examples are known today. Most show evidence of considerable use in commerce.
The shilling denomination apparently was produced in the largest quantities, for these are most often seen today. Two birds tugging on the same worm furnished the motif for the reverse of this issue.
All Chalmers issues are elusive today. One variety of the 1783 shilling with rings and stars on the reverse is exceedingly rare, and fewer than a half dozen are known to exist.
Elephant Tokens
The pieces known today as "elephant tokens" were struck in England by the Royal African Company, a group in which the Duke of York, brother of King Charles II, was a stockholder. Known as the Royal Company of Adventurers, the firm in 1672 was renamed the Royal African Company. From that time until 1697 the group had an exclusive trade franchise with the African coast, dealing in ivory, gold, and slaves. The copper metal from which the elephant tokens were made presumably came from West Africa.
The earliest issues were probably those pertaining to London. The obverse was devoid of inscription and had at the center a large and ponderous elephant. The reverse bore a shield, usually with a dagger at the upper left quandrant. The legend GOD PRESERVE LONDON surrounds it. One variety simply bore the name of the city, LONDON. The inscription is believed to refer to the 1665 plague and the 1666 fire which ravaged London.
Apart from their design and origin connection to the New England and Carolina tokens (see following), there is no reason to associate the London elephant tokens with America. While they may have circulated in certain English colonies, there is no contemporary evidence showing that the American colonies paid them any particular attention.
Later, new reverse dies, each bearing the date 1694, were combined with the elephant obverse. One bore the reverse legend: GOD: PRESERVE: NEW:
ENGLAND: 1694. Another variety had the inscription: GOD: PRESERVE: CAROLINA: AND: THE:
LORDS: PROPRIETERS: 1694. An error in spelling was realized, and the word PROPRIETERS was altered by overpunching one letter with an 0 so that a later variety from the same die read PROPRIETORS.
T. Snelling, in his 1769 survey, On Coins of Great Britain, Part V, "Pattern Pieces," did not mention the New England issues but did say of the Carolina piece: We cannot ourselves conceive the intent of striking it, or for what purpose it was intended; however, we think it has no claim to be admitted as a piece of money, but rather is of the ticket kind, and we are of the same opinion in regard to another piece, which is certainly of the same class with this; be it what it will, it is what we call the London halfpenny, one side of both, that is the elephant, we apprehend was struck from the same die, which is still remaining in the Tower [the Tower of London, once used as a mint], and appears to be the work of [John] Roettier; on the other side instead of GOD PRESERVE CAROLINA AND THE LORDS PROPRIETORS, 1694, as upon this; there is upon that, round the city arms, GOD PRESERVE LONDON; we have heard two or three opinions concerning the intent of uttering this piece, as that it was for the London Workhouse; also, that its inscription alludes to the plague, and it was struck whilst it raged in London; and we have likewise heard that it was intended to be made current at Tangier in Africa but never took place.
A Guide Book of United States Coins suggests that the elephant pieces may have been struck "as an advertising stunt to enliven interest in the Carolina Plantation," and that the New England issue was produced "as a promotional piece to increase interest in the American colonies. "
While London elephant tokens are seen with some frequency today, the Carolina issues are exceedingly elusive, with only a half dozen known of the variety with the PROPRIETERS misspelling. Of the New Englandvariety just two pieces are known to numismatists today.