@markelman1125 ... Not my call, but if I could vote I would vote yes. Spaniards emigrating to the new world would bring their wealth in the form of compact gold coins, and then they would simply circulate.
Numismatist. 54 year member ANA. Former ANA Senior Authenticator. Winner of four ANA Heath Literary Awards; three Wayte and Olga Raymond Literary Awards; Numismatist of the Year Award 2009, and ANA Lifetime Achievement Award 2020. Also won the PNG's Robert Friedberg Award for "The Enigmatic Lincoln Cents of 1922," Available now from Whitman or Amazon.
@CaptHenway said: @markelman1125 ... Not my call, but if I could vote I would vote yes. Spaniards emigrating to the new world would bring their wealth in the form of compact gold coins, and then they would simply circulate.
When I originally conceived of the set I intended it to only include Spanish coins from the new world, that said I would be very surprised if these did not regularly circulate as CaptH noted.
Glad to see this thread resurrected. This area of collecting has become a passion of mine. Virtually any foreign type coin of the colonial era is eligible for inclusion, based on a sampling of coins found in Jamestown and Williamsburg, and coins dug elsewhere in North America and recovered from wrecks. In addition, many foreign coins were legal tender here until 1857, which opens the “set” to include a large number of 19th century foreign types. The research involved is great fun. Many are stunning and all are historic.
@Boosibri said:
In Early America coins from around the world were the standard medium of exchange, dominated by the Spanish milled coinage of Mexico and Spanish mints in the colonies. I have worked with the PCGS Set Registry team to form a compilation of coins representative of the countries and coinage which played a role in our early nations monetary history. Every so often, a few of the forum members will participate in a longer narrative on each of the issues.
For the set I tried to pick the issues which would be most representative of the circulating coinage of the time across the nations vying for power in the region. Spain, England, France, Portugal and the Netherlands all maintained a hold on territory, trade and influence in Colonial America and are represented in the set.
The set includes the following, currently at 27 coins, 3 pages of 9 coins in the PCGS Digital Album:
Spanish Milled Silver: 1/2R, 1R, 2R, 4R, and 8R. These coins would have been a staple in every day life with the larger 8R serving in trade and the smaller 1/2R to 2R being common in everyday commerce. The series comes in two major divisions, Pillar style depicting the Pillars of Hercules, and the Portrait style which depicts one of three monarchs, Charles III, Charles IV, and Ferdinand VII. An example of each of the Pillar denominations and one of each denomination of Portrait, from any monarch, is included in the set.
Spanish Milled Gold: The gold of the Spanish Colonial mints largely came from Colombia, Chile and Mexico. Spanish gold was in high demand throughout the world and would have circulated heavily in Colonial America. An example of each denomination is included in the set.
The Spanish 2 Reales or Pistareen: The Spanish 2 Reales, commonly called the pistareen circulated extensively in Colonial America. Paper money was often denominated in pistareens giving weight to its place in Colonial times.
Portuguese/Brazilian 4000R (Moidores) and 6400R: The Portuguese 4000R and 6400R were also commonly circulating gold piece and represent Portugal in the the set.
Netherlands Ducat: The Ducat was a common gold coin used in trade with the Netherlands. It was minted from the 1500's through to present time.
Dutch 1/2 Daalder and Lion Daalder: The New Netherlands colony, present day New York, saw these two dutch denominations freely trade not just in the Dutch colony but throughout the region with hoards found in Maine and dug examples as far south as Maryland.
French Sou Marques: A billon coin (25% silver, 75% copper) were struck in France for the colonies in Canada to alleviate the shortage of circulating coinage. Examples of this issue frequently circulated in Canada and New England.
French Louis D'Or: The standard gold coin from France and certainly present in Colonial America. The wreck of the Le Chameau has special place in colonial times with the sinking of the ship in 1725 and eventual recovery in 1965.
French Ecu: This crown sized coin would have been the French comparable to the Pillar dollar or Lion Daalder in trade.
1749 British Farthing and Halfpenny: While farthings and halfpennies of various dates would have circulated in Colonial times, the 1749 date is special. In 1749 a large shipment of farthings and halfpennies, equal to roughly 1/3rd of the mintage, arrived in Boston on the ship the Mermaid in payment to colonists for the Lewisburg expedition of Cape Breton Island. They are the only dated issues officially authorized by the crown to circulate in America.
British Guinea: Like the Ducat and Louis D'Or, the British Guinea was the representative gold coin from Britain.
I would recommend that anyone interested in this topic read up on the Castine Hoard. Foreign coins as well as colonial paper were quite important in day to day commerce prior to the striking of state copper in the 1780’s and federal coinage in the 1790’s. Massachusetts silver was pretty much out of circulation by the early to mid-1700’s. Its history for me at least is second to none.
Awesome thread! Thanks for posting... and resurrecting... this important information for those interested in early Americana... before America was America!!
Collecting: Dansco 7070; Middle Date Large Cents (VF-AU); Box of 20;
This was a fun set. I had it completed and was at #1 for 2023. I need to add a cuartillo, as I'm no longer complete. There are arguably a couple other Dutch coins (silver ducat, ducaton) that could go in this set, too. I have a 1776 silver ducat, so I guess I'll acquire a ducaton and then request the set composition be updated. There's a link to my set in my signature.
Looks like three coins were added to the set composition since I set it up. That’s one reason why I stopped the set. I made it to be representative and not exhaustive. Then some collectors had a coin that they liked and lobbied to have it added which strayed from my original intent, so I stopped participating in the registry set.
Comments
@markelman1125 ... Not my call, but if I could vote I would vote yes. Spaniards emigrating to the new world would bring their wealth in the form of compact gold coins, and then they would simply circulate.
When I originally conceived of the set I intended it to only include Spanish coins from the new world, that said I would be very surprised if these did not regularly circulate as CaptH noted.
Latin American Collection
ttt for @MEJ7070
Latin American Collection
@Boosibri Thank you sir.
Had no idea this thread existed. Extremely cool set that I’m really enjoying working on.
I’ll look forward to following this and to sharing my new additions here.
Cheers!
Glad to see this thread resurrected. This area of collecting has become a passion of mine. Virtually any foreign type coin of the colonial era is eligible for inclusion, based on a sampling of coins found in Jamestown and Williamsburg, and coins dug elsewhere in North America and recovered from wrecks. In addition, many foreign coins were legal tender here until 1857, which opens the “set” to include a large number of 19th century foreign types. The research involved is great fun. Many are stunning and all are historic.
I would recommend that anyone interested in this topic read up on the Castine Hoard. Foreign coins as well as colonial paper were quite important in day to day commerce prior to the striking of state copper in the 1780’s and federal coinage in the 1790’s. Massachusetts silver was pretty much out of circulation by the early to mid-1700’s. Its history for me at least is second to none.
Awesome thread! Thanks for posting... and resurrecting... this important information for those interested in early Americana... before America was America!!
Successful BST transactions with: SilverEagles92; Ahrensdad; Smitty; GregHansen; Lablade; Mercury10c; copperflopper; whatsup; KISHU1; scrapman1077, crispy, canadanz, smallchange, robkool, Mission16, ranshdow, ibzman350, Fallguy, Collectorcoins, SurfinxHI, jwitten, Walkerguy21D, dsessom.
This was a fun set. I had it completed and was at #1 for 2023. I need to add a cuartillo, as I'm no longer complete. There are arguably a couple other Dutch coins (silver ducat, ducaton) that could go in this set, too. I have a 1776 silver ducat, so I guess I'll acquire a ducaton and then request the set composition be updated. There's a link to my set in my signature.
Keeper of the VAM Catalog • Professional Coin Imaging • Prime Number Set • World Coins in Early America • British Trade Dollars • Variety Attribution
Looks like three coins were added to the set composition since I set it up. That’s one reason why I stopped the set. I made it to be representative and not exhaustive. Then some collectors had a coin that they liked and lobbied to have it added which strayed from my original intent, so I stopped participating in the registry set.
Latin American Collection