Not sure if many here are into colonial coins? And also, not sure if if this coin should be in U.S. or world section because it was minted in Britain, but made for the shores of the "Americana". What do think of my new purchase? All coments are welcome
I have always liked those coins - they were the first Crown authorised coinage for the American colonies, but they were remarkably unpopular in their intended circulation area - some colonies like Massachusetts-Bay outlawed their usage and authorised small denomination paper money to circulate in place of them. Your piece appears to have been a ground find, the corrosion pattern resulting from the unique combination of metals that William Wood referred to as "Bath metal" - the tin part of the composition could account for the later corrosion of the piece. In many ways the coins are indicative of the nature of how the Crown felt about the colonies, William Wood secured the patent to strike these coins at a weight and composition standard that were below the standards of the day for British coins - so as a result the coins were smaller and of a cheaper metal than their British contemporaries. The colonial governments and citizens took notice - this was one of the earlier indicators of the Crown's careless nature of governing the colonies.
Scottishmoney, thanks for your reply! Thumbs Up! I have been been doing a little research and according to Wiki: Use of term "America(no,na,...)" and other derivatives is mostly accredited to Amerigo Vespucci, a Italian merchant and cartographer who explored South America's east coast in the early 1500's. Thomas Hacket's 1568 translation of André Thévet's book on France Antarctique is the earliest use of the term in English. Also recorded is Thomas Gage's The English-American in 1648. The official name of the country 'The United States of America' was established on November 15, 1777, when the Second Continental Congress adopted the Articles of Confederation, the first of which says. What I have not been able to dig up is: What is the first coin to have the use of "America(no,na,...) on it"? Are the Rosa Americana coins the first?
I cannot think of any other coins issued prior in the N. American colonies that had the word America on them. William Wood was tended the patent on these coins and even struck up some patterns for them this one of which somehow managed to find it's way into circulation at some point: This is a penny from 1723 that I picked up at auction last year, it is a rare subvariety that has 24 pellets in the centre of the rose instead of the normal 15. It is conjectured to have been a pattern coin that the dies of which were determined not to be suitable for actual coining - no doubt because of the detail in the pellets that could have caused problems with striking and or die breakdown. I also have a beaten up tupence that I have to image sometime. William Wood also coined the "Hibernia" coppers for Ireland - which like the Rosa Americana coins were rejected by the local populace and guess what - were sent to that backwater colony of America across the water - where again like the Rosa pieces were rejected in most colonies:
I didn't know the Woods Hibernia coppers were rejected in the colonies. Perhaps that explains why you can find more of them in higher grades than other colonials.
All of Wood's coinages were rejected wherever they were intended to circulate in America or Ireland. They did see some circulation in the middle colonies, what is now Delaware, NJ and Virginia. NY and Massachusetts-Bay rejected them outright. These coins were smaller and made with more inexpensive metals than contemporary British coinage. Of course the colonists saw they were getting ripped off by the Crown. It is overlooked in history now, but some of the roots of the discontent with Britain go back to this coinage dumping issue and even prior - the 1764 Stamp Act did become the pivotal tipping point though.
Scottishmoney, both of your coins are great, but your Rosa Americana is fantastic! I find it ironic that that coins that coins bearing "Americana" were rejected by the fathers of the founders of the United States of America. I should soon be recieving my copy of, "whitman encyclopedia of colonial and early american coins" and will share any other cool info on this coin type.
Wow, awesome coin TJCoins => hmmm, you're not just another pretty "ancient"-face!! (you rock!!) :yes:
Stevex, you should check out some colonials man! They are cool! BTW Thanks! Ripley. Nice coin! Like the rose; it is very like the rose on a couple of Woods pattern coins. Just received my Whitman Colonial coins Book! Here is a synopsis of the, "Wood's Rosa Americana Coinage 1717-1733". Wood was a metallurgist. He obtained a patent from George I to produce coins for the "American Plantations". Some sat the Duchess of Kendall helped secure the patent. The Rosa Americana coinage was made at a time when coinage was scarce. The patent was for 14 years. No more than 200 tons were struck during the first four years. No more than 10 tons for the next 10 years was to made. These coins were designated for the, " islands, dominions, or territories belonging to His Majesty, His heirs, or His successors in America, Or any of them. "The Rosa Americana coinage was given halfpenny, penny, and twopence, but was only about half the weight similar English denominations. Some coins have been found without silver in them. Effortswere made to circulate the coinage, but it largely rejected but did circulate. These coins also circulated in England.
Inasmuch as the Crown neglected coinage in America, they did in Britain also. One of the terms of the Act of Union in 1707 was that a mint in Edinburgh be maintained - and well it was until 1817. But coinage from Edinburgh stopped in 1709, but the mintmaster as well as assistance stayed on pay until 1817. No mention was made as to what they accomplished. The neglect from the lack of continuing coinage meant that older Scottish coins continued to circulate along with the skint English and other foreign coins until the 1760s. The Crown was decidedly negligent to minor coinage from the mid 1660s until early in the 19th century with the great recoinage. That is why there are so many tokens from that era, because the government could have cared the less about minor coinage. By the early 19th century counterfeits became so common and the coinage so chaotic that the Crown had no choice but to mint coins in huge numbers to drive out the Conder tokens and counterfeits. Conders may have circulated in small numbers in America. 17th century merchants and municipal tokens have been found in archaeological digs in the Middle Colonies, suggesting that they perhaps circulated too.
