The Gloucester Court House Token - What is it, really?

MidLifeCrisis

(Much of the information below is copied verbatim from the sources cited.)

The 1714 Gloucester Court House Token or Shilling is one of the most intriguing of all colonial issues. Very little is known about the Gloucester Courthouse Token beyond the information found on the token itself. However, it's numismatic importance is the fact that it is the earliest privately issued token in the Colonies.

The 1714 dated piece gave a denomination of XII (or shilling) and showed a building on the obverse and a star on the reverse. The legend "Gloucester Courthouse Virginia" may not refer specifically to the courthouse but to the location, as many southern rural areas were named by the closest landmark including courthouses (as the village of Appomattox Courthouse). Thus, the building on the obverse may be a courthouse or possibly some other structure as a business, a home, or less likely a warehouse (a warehouse would not usually have large windows and a small front door).

Gloucester Courthouse is the county seat of Gloucester County, Virginia. Gloucester County, because of its proximity to Jamestown and Williamsburg, had some of the earliest English settlements in the New World. The county was formed in 1651. Indian Chief Powhatan and his tribesmen were headquartered along the York River in Gloucester when English settlers arrived at Jamestown in 1607. According to legend, Captain John Smith's life was saved by Chief Powhatan's daughter, Princess Pocahontas. John Buckner of Gloucester brought the first printing press to the Colony and published the laws of Virginia in 1680. Gloucester Point, site of an early 17th century fort, was the outpost of Cornwallis in 1781 and is said to be the site of the final surrender of his troops to General George Washington several hours after the better-known surrender across the York River at Yorktown.

For over a hundred years it was thought only two examples of the 1714 Gloucester Court House Token survived, with both examples so well worn so that the full legend could not be determined. Sylvester S. Crosby, discussed the piece in his The Early Coins of America but did not picture it. Crosby said two well-worn specimens were known and together they didn’t provide enough information to give a full description. He wrote, “Of the history of the earliest of these (American tokens), called the Gloucester Token, nothing is known. It appears to have been intended as a pattern for a shilling of a private coinage, by Richard Dawson of Gloucester (county?) Virginia.”

The first appearance of one of the currently two known specimens is in E.L. Mason’s April, 1869 auction where a specimen reported in the catalogue to have been acquired in England for Joseph J. Mickley for the sum of 7 pounds 7 shillings, equal to over $50 at the time. This example, according to Crosby, was owned by George Cram. It was later sold to Lorin G. Parmelee and in recent times has been in the Garrett collection, then in the Roper collection.

The second specimen reported appears in W. Elliot Woodward and William Strobridge’s Sale of the Dr. Charles Clay Collection in December, 1871. This specimen was also owned by Lorin Parmelee. This piece was in the William Sumner Appleton collection which was donated to the Massachusetts Historical Society and then appeared in the 1976 ANA Convention sale held by Stacks Coin Company of New York City. It was purchased by Roper who discovered it to be a cast copy of the other surviving example. Stacks refunded the purchase price and donated the copy to a public institution.

Note - There seems to be some confusion as to the provenance of these coins, as indicated by the lot descriptions in the Garrett and Roper sales for the same coin.

So for a short period of time only one real specimen of the token was known. However, in March, 1981 a collector in the area of Gloucester, Virginia discovered another example. This coin appeared in the Bowers and Ruddy Galleries’ auction of April 30, 1982. This specimen was about as worn as the Mickley-Parmelee coin but it showed different areas, so for the first time the entire inscription of the coin could be made out. Combining the two coins, collectors were able to determine the coin’s full legend: GLOVCESTER • COVRTHOVSE • VIRGINIA on the obverse and RIGHAVLT DAWSON • ANNO • DOM • 1714 on the reverse. It is known that families with the names of Righault and Dawson lived in Gloucester, Virginia in 1714. According to The Red Book, “The recent discovery has provided a new interpretation of the legends, as a Righault family once owned land near the Gloucester courthouse.”

Both examples are made of brass with a high copper content and measure 24 mm. in diameter but their weights greatly differ, with the Garrett-Roper example weighing 61.1 grains while the more worn, newly discovered example weighs only 43.44 grains.

After the 1981 discovery, a third related token was uncovered. A local Gloucester resident came upon this unique piece while searching for indian relics with a metal detector in the vicinity of the old courthouse. This latest find is smaller than the other examples at 18.2 mm. and is only 25.3 grains, leading some to call it a sixpence. It is extremely worn. On the obverse the central image (if there was one) is completely worn off but a few letters in the legend are legible; at about 7:00 o'clock are the letters "VLT ." (from Righault) and part of a beaded outer border, the remainder is worn smooth until about 3:00 to 4:00 o'clock where the letters "N . DO" (from anno domini, AN. DOM.) are visible. On the reverse at about 2:00 o'clock is a single point of the star and, from the legend, "715" The remainder of the reverse is worn smooth, except for what might be the tip of a point on the star at about 8:00 o'clock. Thus, this smaller size token shows a new date, 1715, and displays a reworking of the legend as the name Righault along with the AN. DOM. are on the obverse while the legend continued with the date on the reverse. Because of the large blank space it is not known if the location, Gloucester Courthouse Virginia, was mentioned. If it was on the obverse then the word Dawson would not fit and, if his name was included, would need to have been placed on the reverse. If the location was not on the obverse then Dawson could have easily fit in the available space and the location, if added, could have been on the reverse. This coin has yet to appear in the numismatic market. The Red Book says, “A similar but somewhat smaller piece, possibly dated 1715 exists. The condition of the unique piece is too poor for a positive attribution.”

It now appears there are different size tokens from two different years associated with Righault. It does appear Righault and Dawson formed a partnership of some kind that produced these private tokens.

That few examples remain (and those in poor condition) dramatically limit speculation on the nature of these pieces. Their small number and diverse weight are characteristic of patterns (i.e. prototypes). However, as privately made local products presumably produced by local artisans without the aid of advanced minting equipment, one might expect a certain uniformity in the planchet size but certainly there would be less standardization in planchet thickness, resulting in weight variations. Also, one would not expect experimentation with patterns by local artisans. Rather, once a die was prepared it would be put into use until it was not longer serviceable. Possibly these pieces were produced in fairly limited numbers for local use as coinage. There are still many unanswered questions about what appears to be the earliest datable private token produced in the colonies.

Sources
1. University of Notre Dame Department of Special Collections, Louis Jordan, at https://coins.nd.edu/ColCoin/ColCoinIntros/Gloucester.intro.html
2. Red Book 70: Gloucester token, Gerald Tebben, at https://www.coinworld.com/voices/gerald-tebben/red_book_70_glouces.html
3. PCGS Coinfacts, P. Scott Rubin, at https://www.pcgs.com/coinfacts/coin/1714-shilng-gloucester/88
4. PCGS Auction Prices at https://www.pcgs.com/auctionprices/item/1714-shilng-gloucester/88/-2051828166390872243
5. Gloucester County Chamber of Commerce Visitors and Tourism - ​Gloucester County, Virginia History at https://www.gloucestervachamber.org/gloucester-history.html
6. “Real-life portraits not new”, written by John Kraljevich, Jr., article in October 12, 2010 edition of Coin World
7. "A Summary of Rarities from the Newcomer Collection" by George Fuld
8. "Observations on the 1714 Gloucester Shilling", Donald G. Patrick, The Colonial Newsletter, May 1986.

Mark

@MidLifeCrisis Fascinating exposition. Thanks VERY much for writing it. You have vastly increased my knowledge of these tokens!

scubafuel

This was an awesome read, thanks! These are fascinating.

@btcollects ...surprised at that response to this post.

ricko

Thanks for the very interesting history of these scarce coins.... One can only wonder how many may have been produced. @MidLifeCrisis Thanks for the history lesson.... Cheers, RickO

oldabeintx

Very informative. Thank you for posting.

kiyote

I always really loved these spooky tokens! It would be amazing to find one with a metal detector!

Smudge

Thanks for a very informative and interesting post.

keyman64

Fantastic post @MidLifeCrisis
I was reading this post on my phone while sitting on the couch so my screen is only so big. The content really pulled me in and I was absorbing the content little by little on the small screen. I kept on hoping that by the end of the post MLC was going to reveal his very own example. It’s the only thing that could have made the post better. Well done, Sir! I look forward to your acquisition of an example one day.

koynekwest

Great article! Thanks for posting.

kaz

That's a really interesting write up, MLC. Thanks. I wonder what historic documents still exist on the Dawson or Righault families. In that era, when someone died, all of their possessions were carefully inventoried and recorded; these inventories have been priceless for historical and archaeological research. Unfortunately, many were lost in the Civil War. For example, all of the records from James City county (Williamsburg and jamestown) were moved to the Charles City courthouse since it was far from battlefields, but the courthouse was burned by the Union army when it marched through late in the war and all records were lost. I don't know if the Gloucester county records survive.

Namvet69

This is why I detect! Peace Roy

kiyote

I am curious what one would bring if it came to auction. Is this a million dollar token?

MidLifeCrisis

@kiyote said:
I am curious what one would bring if it came to auction. Is this a million dollar token?

Well, at the Garrett sale in October 1980, it sold for $36,000. That's about $112,000 in today's dollars.

Then, in the Roper sale in December 1983, it sold for $20,900, or about $54,000 today.

I don't think it's a million dollar token. I think it's condition hurts it. The cataloger was probably being generous when they called it a crude fine in the Roper sale. Coinfacts assigns it a G6 grade in it's auction record of the Garrett sale. Also, I think it's still relatively unknown to most collectors.

DCW

Great write up, MLC! This why I love tokens and medals. History really comes alive in the many pieces that are out there. So much opportunity for research.
You don't get that collecfing by date and mintmark

cheezhed

Thank you for taking the time to share your knowledge and passion.

Mark

@MidLifeCrisis I am guessing that these tokens are maybe closer to mint state than thought. If the initial strike was lousy, a'la the North Wales tokens (although as evasion coppers they likely were designed from the start to look well worn), then not much circulation would have been needed for them to become as (apparently) worn and without detail as they appear today. On the other hand, if the initial strike was halfway decent, how long do you think they would have needed to circulate before they were as worn and without detail as is their appearance today? I guess that the Gloucester tokens probably did not circulate for too long, simply because there are not many of them and so it may have been difficult to have them accepted when offered as payment.

MidLifeCrisis

@Mark said:
@MidLifeCrisis I am guessing that these tokens are maybe closer to mint state than thought. If the initial strike was lousy, a'la the North Wales tokens (although as evasion coppers they likely were designed from the start to look well worn), then not much circulation would have been needed for them to become as (apparently) worn and without detail as they appear today. On the other hand, if the initial strike was halfway decent, how long do you think they would have needed to circulate before they were as worn and without detail as is their appearance today? I guess that the Gloucester tokens probably did not circulate for too long, simply because there are not many of them and so it may have been difficult to have them accepted when offered as payment.

That is a very interesting theory. I'm inclined to agree. Thanks.

johnny9434

A good read I like