Q.David Bowers
Copper Coinage of New Hampshire
On March 13, 1776, the New Hampshire House of Representatives voted that a committee be established to consider the production of copper coinage.
The committee reported that it would be beneficial to produce copper issues as the Continental currency and other paper money issues in circulation were too large for use in small transactions. William Moulton was recommended for the franchise to produce up to 100 pounds' weight of coppers to be submitted to the General Assembly prior to circulating the pieces. It was further recommended that 108 of these pieces be equal to one Spanish milled dollar, with the weight of each individual coin being equal to the current English halfpenny. A design was submitted showing on the obverse a tree and the words AMERICAN LIBERTY, emblematic of the revolutionary spirit prevailing at the time. The reverse was to depict a harp and the date 1776.
On June 28, 1776, the House of Representatives' vote is recorded as follows:
... that the treasurer of this colony receive into the treasury in exchange for paper bills of this colony, any quantity of copper coin, made in this colony, of the weight of five pennyweight and ten grains each, to the amount of any sum or sums not exceeding 1,000 pounds lawful money. . . which coppers shall have the following device: a pine tree with the words American Liberty on one side and a harp and the figure 1776 on the other side.
It is believed that William Moulton prepared patterns in accordance with the proposed recommendation, but that pieces were made in limited quantities and never circulated to any extent. Other New Hampshire 1776 pattern designs varying from that just described have appeared from time to time, but nothing is known today concerning their origin.
1778-9 Rhode Island Medal
Circumstances surrounding the issue of the Rhode Island ship medal, sometimes referred to as a token, are shrouded in mystery. The piece was virtually unknown to American collectors until a specimen appeared in W. Elliot Woodward's sale of the Seavey Collection on June 21-22, 1864, at which time it sold for $40, an extraordinarily high price at the time.
The piece bears on one side a sailing ship with sails furled and an inscription relating to the flight of Admiral Howe's flagship from Narragansett Bay, Rhode Island, in October 1779. The other side refers to the flight of Americans from Rhode Island in August 1778.
The intent may have been satirical. The flight of the Continental Army on August 30, 1778, is ridiculed on one side, and on the other side the flight of Admiral Howe's flagship, attesting to his inability to retain the fruits of victory, is satirized. One 19th-century numismatist, George T. Paine, believed that it may have been struck in Holland by a sympathizer with the American cause who intended one side of the medal as a compliment to Americans on their successful retreat, and the other side as a scorning of the British fleet.
Specimens were issued in brass and pewter, pewter pieces being elusive today. The word VLUGTENDE (''fleeing'') appears on some issues below Howe's flagship. Apparentlyafter a limited number of pieces were struck with this word, it was erased in the die and a wreath was substituted in its place.
Confederatio Coppers
The CONFEDERATIO legend appears on an interesting series of coins, all presumed to be patterns and all extremely rare, dated in the 1780s. The dies in many instances appear to be the work of Thomas Wyon of Birmingham, England.
Combinations with the CONFEDERATIO dies were made in different formats, including with the standing figure of an Indian surrounded by the legend INIMICA TYRANNIS AMERICANA, a die featuring George Washington, a die with the seated figure of Columbia and with the legend IMMUNIS COLUMBIA, and others. Related to these are certain other pieces, also presumably by Thomas Wyon, bearing the IMMUNE COLUMBIA and IMMUNIS COLUMBIA legends but with different reverses. While most of these dies are thought to have been prepared in Birmingham, England, evidently many found their way to the United States and were used in New York City as well as in Machin's Mills, a private mint located near Newburgh, New York. Different die combinations are known.
Nova Constellatio Patterns for United States Coinage
In 1783 a remarkable group of pattern coins made its appearance: the "bit" of 100 units, the" quint" of 500 units, and the "mark" of 1,000 units. Sylvester S. Crosby said: "These are undoubtedly the first patterns for coinage of the United States and command an interest exceeding that of any others of this class."
Gouverneur Morris, who had been assistant financier of the Confederation, proposed these pieces. Jared Sparks, in The Life of Gouverneur Morris (1832), quotes Morris:
The various coins which have circulated in America have undergone different changes in their value so that there is hardly any which can be considered of the general standard, unless it be Spanish dollars. These pass in Georgia at five shillings, in North Carolina and New York at eight shillings, in Virginia and the four eastern states at six shillings, and in all other states, excepting South Carolina, at seven shillings and sixpence, and in South Carolina at thirty-two shillings and sixpence. The money unit of a new coin to agree, without a fraction, with all these different values of a dollar, excepting the last, will be the fourteen hundred and fortieth part of a dollar, equal to the sixteenth hundredth part of a crown. Of these units, twenty-four will be a penny of Georgia, fifteen will be a penny of North Carolina or New York, twenty will be a penny of Virginia and the four eastern states, sixteen will be a penny of all the other states, excepting South Carolina, and forty-eight will be thirteen pence of South Carolina.
It has already been observed that to have the money unit very small is advantageous to commerce; but there is no necessity that this money unit be exactly represented in coin; it is sufficient that its value be precisely known. On the present occasion, two copper coins will be proper, the one of eight units, and the other of five. These may be called an Eight and a Five. Two of the former will make a penny proclamation, or Pennsylvania money, and three a penny Georgia money. Of the latter, three will make a penny New York money and four a penny lawful, or Virginia money. The money unit will be equal to a quarter of a grain of fine silver in coined money. Proceeding thence in a decimal ratio, one hundred would be the lowest silver coin, and might be called a Cent. It would contain twenty-five grains of fine silver, to which may be added two grains of copper, and the whole would weigh one pennyweight and three grains. Five of these would make a Quint or five hundred units, weighing five pennyweight and fifteen grains; and ten would make a Mark, or one thousand units weighing eleven pennyweight and six grains.