Hello late night CoinTalker's! I have a fun hypothetical scenario for you: You are living in the Colonial days and in the same situation that you are in as far as the classification of wealth (or not). The question is what kind of Coins would you likely to be carrying around with you in your daily living? In my current situation (Middle class), I would be likely to be carrying a sack full of large cents and some small silver pieces for larger purchases. Edit section : Change or edit the current question above. What would your question be concerning money circulating in the Colonies or any other hypothetical question. ??
Well, I'll approach it just like you said. Things being equal (or similar, at least), I would have some half cents, large Cents, half dimes, dimes, etc. To the extent that I could afford to have. I keep all different types of change, and bills with me now. If I buy something, and they don't have the correct change to give back to me, I can probably pay with the right amount of change. I was in the Boy Scouts, they told me to be prepared, and I believed them, lol. (You really don't want to see all the stuff I carry in my pockets!) So, I would have had a variety of change, as much as I could afford. I've generally got $6 - $12 in change in my pocket now. Sometimes more!
Well, I don't think that there was a lot of "carrying around" money, even if you had sturdy pockets. I think that would be at home in a box or locked box. Depending on the definition of "colonial", I would think that most monies would be British, or maybe some Spanish. I think that most "carrying" would be farthings, half cents and pennies, or maybe a little paper stock.... and some silver if well off.
In N.E. Tenn. you would have British, Mexican, German, Dutch along with a mild assortment of U.S. A good portion of your foreign silver would be well worn, causing the mer- chant to weigh the coins for an accurate value. Paper money lost value the further away it was from the issuing bank.
It would seem like it, but then why were the common circulating coins not made with a hole already in them?
