As the first president, George Washington was responsible for defining the powers and limits of the office for the first time. The framers of the Constitution had written the Executive Branch provisions with Washington in mind. Still it was his responsible to try out the office for the first time. His success in that area has prompted historians to rate him as the one of the best presidents, usually #2 behind Lincoln. One of the responsibilities of the new government was to establish a monetary system. That system could not include paper money. The Continental Currency which the Continental Congress had issued became worthless during the Revolutionary War. Nobody trusted paper for good reason because the states had also issued paper which had lost all of most of its value. Therefore money would have to be in coin form. There was a debate as to whether the government should run a mint or turn the responsibility over to private contractors. The failure of Fugio Cent had shown some that private minters were not the answer, but some members of the House and Senate continued to push for a privately produced coinage. One of the proposals for a U.S. coinage came from England. This coin, which was made at the Bolton and Watt Soho Mint was an example. Two gentlemen from Birmingham, England, W. and Alex Walker, sponsored the project. They set a key of these cents to The United States and had them distributed to members of Congress. There were 1,500 of these pieces with the small eagle and the date on the reverse, and 2,500 pieces with a large eagle and the date on the obverse. Washington rejected all of it, including the pieces with his portrait which were made in The United Stats. He did not want his portrait to appear on the coinage because it was something a king would do, not the leader of a republic. Despite the fact that these coins were not accepted a “coins of the realm,” they went into circulation. Americans were desperate for a circulating coinage. They would willing to use just about anything. These pieces are known in circulated and Mint Stage condition. It is believed that almost all of the Mint State pieces which are known, were collected by British numismatists. There were almost no collectors in The United States at the time, and there would be very few coin collectors until 1857 when the large cent was discontinued. When that happened, coin collecting in the U.S. became popular. This piece is graded MS-64, Brown. Virtually none of these coins show any mint red, and those that do show only a trace of it. Of course coin doctors would be more than willing to make them red if they thought it would be to their financial advantage.
I have always found it fascinating that after a long and bloody war that the British were so eager to resume commerce with us. Very cool piece @johnmilton !
I guess being English the manufacturers weren't too concerned about getting the arrows and olive branch in the correct claws, or the correct # of stars.
Higley coppers? Not much more than is what is in my reference books. I have never owned one. The closest I might have come was when a Boston dealer offered me for little over $3,000 over 25 years ago. The dealer was very knowledgeable, but you had to know your stuff before you got “into the pit” with him because he was a very sharp operator. There was very little left on the piece. I passed. Another dealer asked me to verify one that came into his shop. After doing a lot of research, I could tell right away that it was modern copy. Here are pictures of one of the pieces I found on the Internet when I was doing my research. As to the history, here goes. Dr. Samuel Higley was medical doctor who held a degree from Yale College. He was also an expert blacksmith who did a lot of experimentation with metals. He developed a practical way of making steel. In 1728 he purchased some land in a place named Simsbury which is better known as Granby. There were a number of copper mines in the area, and Higley operated one. The production was small, but profitable. He exported most of the copper to England. In 1737 he came up with the idea of minting some copper coins. The first pieces had a deer on the obverse and three hammers on the reverse which was the symbol for an English blacksmiths’ guild. He valued the pieces at three pence. One theory is that Higley used these pieces to by drinks at a local tavern with his coins. People complained because the coins were about the same size as the British half pennies which were circulating in the area. His next series of coins had the words, “Value me as you please.” Higley died on a voyage to England in 1737. He was on his way there to sell some of his copper. His oldest son, John, and the Rev. Timothy Woodbridge and William Cradock struck some more coppers in 1739. They tried to get a contract to make an official Connecticut state coinage, but were unsuccessful. Later pieces had a single ax on the reverse with the phrase, "I cut my way through." The small mintage was made even rarer by the fact that gold smiths used the coin to alloy with gold and silver. The coins were said to be very pure copper. These coins are very rare and seldom offered. Since recent sales have been in the mid 6 digits for very low grade examples, it’s not on my want list.
