And so it begins...the first coin in my new collection
MidLifeCrisis
Posts: 10,550 ✭✭✭✭✭
1723 Hibernia halfpenny, ex Eliasberg
And now, the rest of the story...
Among colonial coinage, one of the more controversial topics is William Wood’s Hibernia coins. Under a 1722 patent, Wood minted at least £40,000 of copper Farthings and Halfpence for what was deemed a coin starved Ireland. Numismatic literature is rife with questions as to the acceptance of these coins in Ireland and their arrival and circulation in the American colonies.
Most tales pertaining to Wood’s money are not based on research but rather upon the self-serving written record of the opponents to these coppers. After a careful review of historical documents, it becomes clear that Wood’s coppers enjoyed extensive use in Ireland. In fact, they became the dominant medium of exchange for everyday transactions, especially in rural areas. Further, it can be reasonably assumed that Wood’s coins would have found their way to the American colonies during the course of commerce and immigration. Finally, when these coins became semi-demonetized in Ireland in 1737, they were not only readily available for export but also arrived in extensive numbers primarily in the Mid-Atlantic colonies.
William Wood, owner of several copper and tin mines, hoped to make a profit producing coins for use in Ireland and America. During the first half of 1722 the king's mistress, the Duchess of Kendal, obtained a patent from the Earl of Sunderland for coining copper money for Ireland. Wood thought this would be a profitable enterprise so he purchased the royal patent from the duchess for £10,000. In his indenture from George I dated June 16, 1722 Wood was authorized to produce up to 360 tons of halfpence and farthings for Ireland at 30 pence to the pound over a period of fourteen years for an annual fee of £800 paid to the king. These Hibernia coins were heavier and thus intrinsically more valuable than the coppers then circulating in Ireland. When including the costs of production and the £10,000 fee paid to the Duchess of Kendal, it has been calculated that Wood would have lost £4,871 over the fourteen years of the patent.
Sources
Brian J. Danforth, Ph.D., “Wood’s Hibernia Coins Come To America”, The Colonial Newsletter, Sequential page 2213, August 2001.
Louis Jordan, The Coins of Colonial and Early America, “Hibernia Coppers 1722-1724: Introduction”, University of Notre Dame, Department of Special Collections website at https://coins.nd.edu/ColCoin/ColCoinIntros/Hibernia.intro.html
Comments
Terrific pickup and info, congrats. I saw that on the EB list and took a look, too. ⭐️
Great write-up!
It's too bad your collecting interests have changed so drastically over the years...
In honor of the memory of Cpl. Michael E. Thompson
It's too bad I can't Like AND LOL a post at the same time. I have to choose one or the other. So Thanks Tom. I like and LOL your post!
Well done!
My current "Box of 20"
A coin is.......a coin. With the backstory, it becomes more than a coin. It becomes a more visual record of history.
My War Nickels https://www.pcgs.com/setregistry/nickels/jefferson-nickels-specialty-sets/jefferson-nickels-fs-basic-war-set-circulation-strikes-1942-1945/publishedset/94452
Nice!
A great new beginning
Experience the World through Numismatics...it's more than you can imagine.
Great start! Looking forward to future additions.
Nice pickup.
A very pleasing example, well done.
I look forward to seeing other new toys that you acquire.
Looking for Top Pop Mercury Dime Varieties & High Grade Mercury Dime Toners.
I have never been into colonials, but that is a nice sweet coin. Great eye-appeal
Out of the starting blocks with a bang! Great looking coin, and thanks for the info.
You're off to an excellent start!
Great transactions with oih82w8, JasonGaming, Moose1913.
Nice historical info. I wonder how many other coins have had made up stories that affected collecting interest in them for long periods of time? When was the story about the coins not circulating in Ireland finally debunked?
I love the coin and was thinking about it myself. Wonderful addition to your set
Latin American Collection
Congrats!
U.S. Type Set
That came from the August 2001 Colonial Newsletter article. But stories that have been read and repeated for a long time have a way of hanging on as truth, whether they are or not.
As for how many other coins have made up stories that affected collecting interest, I think the answer is many...a great many.
Congrats again and your write up was a wealth of information. Thank you!
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Fellas, leave the tight pants to the ladies. If I can count the coins in your pockets you better use them to call a tailor. Stay thirsty my friends......
I have to say you’re off to quite a start!
You are not allowed to stop at one purchase
, so forge ahead and post your ensuing purchases.
Love it, @MidLifeCrisis. Great choice. Very you.
How about a Plantations token next?
Lance.
I will be taking it slow...savoring each purchase maybe more than I have in the past...the thrill is in the hunt, but that thrill can lead to burnout if you're not careful. I love this coin. It jumped out at me and seems to be the perfect first coin for my new collection. But now I want to re-learn what I used to know about Hibernia coinage, William Wood, and Eliasberg.
Thanks everyone!
Off to a great start!
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CoinsAreFun Toned Silver Eagle Proof Album
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Gallery Mint Museum, Ron Landis& Joe Rust, The beginnings of the Golden Dollar
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More CoinsAreFun Pictorials NGC
@MidLifeCrisis ....That is great and a new direction is always fun...Is there any detail indicating the actual locations of the dots on the map you included? I ask, because one of the 'dots' is very close to where I am...and I would like to pursue this information. Thank you for the historical details....Cheers, RickO
Nice catch and addition to the collection
Here's some more information from the August 2001 Colonial Newsletter article:
Philip L. Mossman in his article entitled "The Circulation of Irish Coinage in Pre-Federal America", outlined a compilation of recovered Wood's coppers. Of particular note was the find at Pemaquid, Maine (now Bristol, it was known from 1632 to 1765 as Pemaquid), where of the 83 coins recovered 18 were Wood's coppers. This site is especially noteworthy because it was a frontier region of Massachusetts where 50 Irish families had immigrated to in the early 1730s. Gredesky in his article entitled "More on the Circulation of English and Irish Coppers: Small Change Coppers found in Southern New Jersey" related the find of a Wood's farthing and the viewing of an additional three Wood's halfpence. This information references an area of the Mid-Atlantic Colonies that witnessed an inflow of Irish immigrants during the late 1720s and 1730s. Also located in the Philadelphia region were three Wood's coppers identified as part of the Pennsylvania Highway Find.
Other discoveries come from two archaeological sites in Albany, New York. The sites are by themselves interesting given that one was at the eastern gate to the Albany stockade where a colonial ferry operated for transporting passengers across the Hudson River. Here, the recovery of a Wood's halfpenny lay within the context of four identifiable English coppers from the period of 1735 to 1745. The other discovery came from a residential area established on the northern side of the Albany stockade. Here, a Wood's halfpenny was recovered within the context of nine other identifiable copper coins, being a Dutch half-duit bearing the date of 16--, a Spanish copper without a visible date, five English halfpence from the period of George II, and an English farthing dated 1749.
A 1722 Wood's Hibernia halfpenny was recovered near Bennington, Vermont.
@MidLifeCrisis.... Thank you, I knew that one dot was close to me...That would be the Albany dot...I am just 40 miles south of Albany....Cheers, RickO