Were George II and III coins used in the US during the Revolutionary War?

ajaan · January 25, 2013 10:44PM

Does anyone know if the US colonies used British coins during the US War for Independence? The 7th grade students at my school are reading a fictional novelette about the War and in it is mentioned that one of the characters was given a 'penny' by a Tory. Was the British issued coinage used in the colonies at this time?

SaorAlba · January 25, 2013 11:14PM

<< <i>Does anyone know if the US colonies used British coins during the US War for Independence? The 7th grade students at my school are reading a fictional novelette about the War and in it is mentioned that one of the characters was given a 'penny' by a Tory. Was the British issued coinage used in the colonies at this time? >>

Of course, but also the counterfeits of the British coins. There were even homegrown counterfeits, the Machins Mills coins. The colonists were resourceful, they used whatever they could get. British, Brazilian, Mexican, Spanish etc.

MacCrimmon · January 26, 2013 1:43AM

The "penny" could also fall under the Pre-1776 Private and Regional Issues heading, such as a Geo. I Rosa Americana.

linky

lordmarcovan · January 26, 2013 5:17PM

<< <i>Was George II and III coins used in the US during the Revolutionary War? >>

Of course. Until 1857, and really up into the US Civil War, pocket change in the States was a hodgepodge of all kinds of stuff from all over the globe. As a detectorist I can attest to this. On one old plantation site, within just a few feet of one another, I found a 1779 Spanish Colonial 2-reales piece struck in Mexico City, a 1782 George III "Hibernia" halfpenny struck in Britain for use in Ireland, and a 1782 French 2-sous piece struck in Paris for use in the colony of Cayenne. The latter two 1782 pieces were barely an arm's length apart, and likely fell from the same pocket.

So during the Revolution there were TONS of King George coppers in circulation and long afterwards, too.

Of the sampling that is found by relic hunters here (SE Georgia was the southernmost frontier of the USA at the time), most of the copper is British but most of the silver is Spanish. (Not too surprising since Spanish Florida was just across the St. Mary's River.)

I've seen Spanish, British, French, German States, and Dutch coins all come out of the ground around here.

EVillageProwler · January 26, 2013 9:00PM

Was the story about a teenage boy who was a silversmith apprentice to Paul Revere? Tremain or Trumbull or something like that?

nicholasz219 · January 26, 2013 9:06PM

Small change seems to have been a perpetual problem before the 1800's. In Hammered Coins of Great Britain it is discussed as to how Elizabeth not only restored value to the coins of her father's realm but also introduced much in the way of small change which was in very short supply in England at the time to the detriment of most small businesses.

If I remember my US numismatic history right, a shortage of small change further exacerbated by the Panic of 1857 then by the Civil War drove most "good" metal coinage out of circulation. Store tokens, foreign issued coinage, scrip and then paper currency (Fractional postage encased in mica covered metal rimmed rounds followed by the paper currency; then Federally chartered banknotes of various types). I am trying to remember things I read from twenty years ago or more so I am sure I am slightly off on the details here. Please add corrections but I think I am on the right track.

LochNESS · January 26, 2013 10:16PM

<< <i>Was the story about a teenage boy who was a silversmith apprentice to Paul Revere? Tremain or Trumbull or something like that? >>

Johnny Tremain. I did a report on that book in elementary school. I had such a hard time finishing the book, I must've read it a half dozen times. Eventually I just convinced my parents to rent the movie. It's not bad!

ajaan · January 26, 2013 10:50PM

<< <i>Was the story about a teenage boy who was a silversmith apprentice to Paul Revere? Tremain or Trumbull or something like that? >>

No. The book is My Brother Sam is Dead

LochNESS · January 27, 2013 4:17PM

um, ok maybe I misunderstood the question. I thought somebody was asking for the name of the book Johnny Tremain, so I answered thus.

I didn't realize they were inquiring about the name of the book in the OP. Is that the Sam is Dead book?

Fountainhead · January 28, 2013 12:17AM

I believe Spanish and Mexican silver circulated much more than the British stuff. This was due to the peculiarity of colonial trade. Americans who exported to England usually were paid in goods or credit; the Brits practically forbade the export of specie. On the other hand, exporters who sold rice and other commodities to Portugal and the Mediterranean were allowed to accept payment tax-free in Spanish silver and gold. Americans involved in the "triangular" slave trade also accepted partial payment in Spanish/Mexican coin as that was the dominant currency in the Caribbean (the remaining payment was made in sugar). I recall one story about Jim Bowie, he used pieces of eight from the time he was a kid and hardly used anything else until he was an adult.

coachbedford · January 28, 2013 2:53PM

The copper halfpence would have been far more commonly used in the Colonies than the "penny" which would actually have been a small silver coin--and yes, copper farthings and halfpence of George II and George III were not plentiful, but neither were they rarely seen. The typical colonists who resided in populated areas saw them often enough.

SaorAlba · January 28, 2013 8:56PM

The British Crown didn't totally ignore the American colonists, they did tender a patent to William Wood in 1722 to mint halfpennies, pennies and twopence for the American colonies. Of course the patent was a favour to a favoured and he favoured himself for profit by making the coins smaller and lighter than what they would have had to have been for circulation in Britain. The resultant coins were the Rosa Americana coins:

This is a rare variety of the 1723 penny that has 24 pellets in the centre of the rose, most examples have only 15 and this is thought to have been a prototype that somehow slipped into circulation. The coins were NOT well received in America due in no small part to their being undersized - Massachusetts-Bay went as far as banning them and issuing a small change issue of paper money to replace them. They did see some circulation in some mid-Atlantic colonies but were still unpopular.

William Wood also had the patent to strike small denomination farthings and halfpennies for Ireland, which the reception of, were just about as unpopular as the Rosa Americana pieces in North America. Because the coins were so unpopular in Ireland many of them ended up getting dumped off in America:

Where a dearth of coinage let even these pieces circulate, again mostly in the mid-Atlantic colonies.

ambro51 · January 28, 2013 11:44PM

A great variety of coins circulated during that period. In addition to Regal (produced by a Government mint) coppers with George II (he died in 1760) and George III at least half of those circulating coppers were counterfeit. Called Evasions these pieces were struck or cast in large numbers. The overall coin supply was very low and generally a worn coin was freely accepted. While the design was usually a "George and Britannia" the legends usually made no sense and they were dated years before. ~~~~years after the Revolution, in 1787 the Vermont Ryder 13 was struck at Machins Mill and was known as the "Tory Penny" . The obverse was magnificently engraved with George III , the legend proudly said VERMON AUCTORI ( by the authority of Vermont). The reverse was a well worn and disintegrating in use die that had extensive prior use on Machins Mill counterfeit half pence. On the earliest strikes of Ryder 13 BRITANNIA on the reverse. Most have the letters barely visible though

Were George II and III coins used in the US during the Revolutionary War?

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