Name a coin that isn't included in the Pre-Federal (Colonial and Post-Colonial) section of the Red B

MidLifeCrisis

I'll start...

1749 British Halfpenny and Farthing.

Here's an excerpt from the University of Notre Dame Department of Special Collections website -

". . . in 1749 when the largest shipment of British coppers to be sent to the colonies arrived in Boston on the ship /The Mermaid./ The British parliament sent Massachusetts Bay almost twenty-one long tons of Spanish silver coins (653,000 troy ounces in 217 chests) as well as ten long tons of English coppers (in one hundred casks), in order to reimburse the Colony for the assistance it provided to the Lewisburg expedition on Cape Breton Island, Nova Scotia, during the French and Indian War. According to the Massachusetts Currency Reform Act of January 26, 1749 the total reimbursement was equivalent to £183,649 2s7 and 1/2d in British sterling. The coppers included over 800,000 halfpence and more than 420,000 farthings all dated 1749; approximately thirty percent of the entire mintage for the year."

coindeuce

Any of the specie of the Spanish Empire that was readily accepted in commerce during the Colonial / Post Colonial period deserves some recognition for the part it played in the history of developing the independent nation. Give me a good reason why it shouldn't be. The Redbook gives recognition to Province of Canada, France, Ireland, and Great Britain for this very reason. Why the hell not Spain? The Spanish Milled Dollars are noted in the preface, but that is where it ends for that nation.

CaptHenway

I am sure that the Spanish, and Portuguese, colonial issues are not included because they would constitute two-thirds of the greatly-expanded volume required to include them.

And what about the Russian coins that circulated in Alaska prior to
"Seward's Folly"?

TD

PerryHall

Didn't virtually any copper, silver, or gold coin circulate in colonial America based on metal value?

StubbyMcNumbthumbs

Hey, I've got one of those!



Ok, it's late and it doesn't take much to get me excited at the moment.

lordmarcovan

I agree with coindeuce. You couldn't categorically list every Spanish colonial coin, but the "Spanish Milled Dollar" section could perhaps have the addendum of a small table of type and denomination priceranges for Spanish silver minors. Just common Mexico City or Lima issues, perhaps. I can see how such an addition runs the risk of burgeoning into a monster, but they could give a sketch, like they've done in the CWT and HTT sections. After all, Spanish silver was the backbone of our currency during all of this nation's childhood and even up into its adolescence. My detector finds bear this out. As much (and sometimes more) Spanish reales turn up in our digs as pre-Civil War US coins do. But I live next to what was the country's southern frontier until Florida joined. Back then Florida was still Spanish itself.

lordmarcovan

<< <i>Didn't virtually any copper, silver, or gold coin circulate in colonial America based on metal value? >>

Yes. And I guess that's what makes some inclusions a slippery slope. It's perhaps too difficult to figure out what to include even a brief summary of. I've dug Spanish, French, British, and American coins on colonial sites, which were struck for Ireland, Cayenne, and in Mexico City, not to mention tokens, and I even found a small eastern Roman coin (late 4th century) on a colonial site last spring, which might have seen been in circulation as a farthing back then.

CoinRaritiesOnline

OK -- here's my two bits on the subject:







A representative example of a counterfeit 2 reales should be included in the Redbook.

Some of these were likely made in the New York City area during colonial times.

They probably were accepted in circulation by the colonists because "two bits", also known as two reales, was a commonly used denomination.

The Philadelphia Mint coined quarters starting in 1796 as a replacement for the popular two reales.


Edited for spelling.

CaptHenway

Dave....is that piece german silver?
TD

TheBigB

<< <i>I even found a small eastern Roman coin (late 4th century) on a colonial site last spring, which might have seen been in circulation as a farthing back then. >>



Fascinating.

CoinRaritiesOnline

<< <i>Dave....is that piece german silver?
TD >>



I haven't had it tested, but I believe it to be.

CaptHenway

Too bad there was never a Spanish colonial mint in Florida.