Foreign Coins used in Colonial America

Here is a link of some of the coins found at the Jamestown settlement in Virginia.
Some of the coins found were English Sixpences of Queen Elizabeth I and King James I and copper 1601 & 1602 Irish Half Pennies & Farthings.

Link:
http://apva.org/rediscovery/page.php?page_id=120

Also there was a 1576 Swedish Ore of King Johan III found at Jamestown as well:



Link:
http://www.historicjamestowne.org/the_dig/dig_2005_06_16.php

 

Log in or Sign up to hide this ad.

Here some colonial era coin exchange tables that I am sure some of you have seen before from almanacs listing various world coins, including the Half Joe:


http://eh.net/encyclopedia/article/michener.american.colonies.money


http://www.theoldstonefort.org/Exhibits/vMONEY/Colonial.html


http://memory.loc.gov/ll/lljc/005/0300/03110726.gif

 

Lastly (for now), a link to Louis Jordan's "Coins of Colonial and Early America" Notre Dame site.

Link: http://www.coins.nd.edu/ColCoin/index.html

This is an awesome website with lots of information about coins used in Colonial America.

 

Don't forget the native proto-currencies:

​

UNITED STATES, Native proto-currency. Seneca tribe.
Ganounata village (Honeoye Falls, NY). Circa AD 1625-1687
White wampum beads (apx. 5mm, 0.10g each)
Carved white shell beads with lateral hole for suspension in belt
Cf. William Martin Beauchamp, Wampum and Shell Articles Used by the New York Indians, p. 369

Found at the Dann Farm site in Honeoye Falls, NY.​

​

In 1687 combined French and Huron forces, lead by the Marquis de Denonville, set out to undermine the strength of the Iriquois Confederacy. The main strike was made against Seneca villages in Western New York. Ganounata was burned during the campaign. This episode was only one in a long line of conflicts fought over control of the North American fur trade.

Wampum was used by Native Americans in woven belts of white and black beads. The white beads were crafted from the columella of the Channeled Whelk, the black from the quahog. Traditionally, wampum belts were used as a ceremonial object to initiate a trade contract. It was only with the coming of the Europeans that wampum began to function as coinage. In 1673, New York state officially set the value of wampum at six white beads to the Dutch stuiver, or three black until they fell out of use. ​

​

​

UNITED STATES, Native proto-currency. Northern Pacific coast. 18th-early19th century
Shell “kop-kop” (29mm by 6mm, 0.38 g)
Tubular shell of the dentalium genus of mollusks
Robert Stearns, Ethno-conchology: A Study of Primitive Money p. 314-321

Ex Detroit Museum of Art

Kop-kops were smaller or damaged pieces of hi-qua shells and circulated as a fraction of the hi-qua. Use of this shell type as currency ranged from northern California to Alaska.​

 

Irish halfpennies were a constant in American change:

Charles II



James II



More James II



George II



The latter came over in droves since they were lighter than the previous issues of halfpennies and were rejected in Ireland. These coins coupled with the Rosa Americana issues were banned in some colonies like Massachusetts-Bay.

George II Rosa Americana Penny



Not really a foreign coin persay, but rejected by the populace as though it was.

 

Great educational thread guys! Thanks for initiating it, Dave, and welcome to the forum.....

 

The following coins were found on a dig in New England I believe.

ENGLAND - Penny - 1560 to 1561
Silver, 0.5g, 15.2mm, Mint: Tower (2nd issue), Ruler: QEI 1558-1603


ENGLAND - Half Groat - 1594 to 1596
Silver, 0.9g, 17.5mm, Mint: Tower, Ruler: QEI 1558-1603


ENGLAND - Half Penny - 1592? to 1595?
Silver, 0.3g, 14.7mm, Mint: Tower, Ruler: QEI 1558-1603


SAXON - Penny - 978? to 1035?
Silver, 0.5g, 16.4mm, Ruler(s): Aethelred 978-1016 or Cnut 1016-1035


ENGLAND - Groat - 1560 to 1561?
Silver, 1.3g, 20mm, Mint: Tower, Ruler: QEI 1558-1603

 

The rolled coin was taken apart by archeologists(hates dem hobbits ).

 

This 1735 Dutch VOC duit was recovered from a late Native American fur trade site in Mid Coast Maine, along with glass trade beads and other trade material. You can see more about this site at Stoney Knoll Archaeological Supplies Facebook page.
https://www.facebook.com/pages/Stoney-Knoll-Archaeological-Supplies/146027045436328
We plan on publishing this site in the Maine Archaeological Society next year to get it out.

 

This 1735 Dutch VOC duit was recovered from a late Native American fur trade site in Mid Coast Maine, along with glass trade beads and other trade material. You can see more about this site at Stoney Knoll Archaeological Supplies Facebook page.
https://www.facebook.com/pages/Stoney-Knoll-Archaeological-Supplies/146027045436328
We plan on publishing this site in the Maine Archaeological Society next year to get it out.
Last edited: Saturday at 5:53 PM

 

Oddly enough one of my cooks sisters was walking one day where the city had been replacing a major road and bent down and picked up a VOC penny. I am trying to find the newspaper article now.

 

Very cool.
After finding the duit at my site, I have been trying to get a handle on how common they are in the archaeological recorded in the east coast, US... not very it seems. I'm guessing it was valued by the Native Americans for the copper raw material. The 1734 date on the coin is about the same age as the fur trade site it was found in, which I figure is ca. 1740.
What city was the VOC, that you mentioned, found in?

 

I just found the article and it was a George II farthing. Also seems to have been tossed out of a car window as it was found on the surface and without much underground damage.

Whoops