Have you ever been to a party where the host was dividing up a cake or a pie, and you felt that you had been short changed on the size of the piece you got? That's how Annapolis, Maryland silver smith, John Chalmers (1750 - 1817), felt in the early 1780s, but his "piece of the pie" was from a coin, not a pastry. During the early years of The United States the most popular, reliable and available silver coins were the Spanish Milled dollars, or "pieces of eight." The coin got that name because its subsidiary denominations were divided into eight reales or "bits." Quite often the fractional one, two and four bit coins were not available, and the only way to make change was to cut the dollar coins into pieces. One dollar contained eight bits, but some of those who cut up the dollars tried to increase their "take" by dividing them into nine pieces. John Chalmers got tired of receiving these "short bits" and decided to do something about it. He made his own coins. A Curacoa 3 pence, made from a cut-up Spanish Dollar John Chalmers was a gold and silver smith who had a shop in Annapolis, Maryland in the 1780s. Earlier he had served as a captain the Continental Army during the Revolutionary War, and at the time that he made his coins he was a member of the common council of Annapolis. Later, he would serve as the sheriff of Baltimore. In short Chalmers was a well known and respected member of the community. Much of what we know about John Chalmers' coinage operation comes from the writings of Dr. Johann David Schoepf, a German, who visited America in 1783 and '84. Schoepf published his experiences in Travels in the Confederation, 1783 - 1794. According to Schoepf, Chalmers offered to exchange coins and fractional parts of silver coins for his pieces for a commission. The dies were cut by Thomas Sparrow who also made plates for Maryland paper money, although Chalmers may have cut some dies because he did have the talent to make them. The coinage was apparently quite extensive as evidenced by the fact that three to four hundred of these coins exist today. This number of survivors is significant because typically only about 2 to 3% of the original mintage often survives today. Most of them are well worn, which shows that Chalmers' coins were used extensively in circulation. There are no indications that the local, state or national governments raised any objection to his coinage. Chalmers issued his coins in three denominations, a three pence, a six pence and a shilling or 12 pence. All of these coins were "American sized" pieces which were smaller and lighter than then their British counterparts. Each piece bore the date, 1783, the name, "I. Chalmers," the location of the mint "Annapolis" or "Annap's" on the three pence, and the face value. The Chalmers shilling is especially interesting because it bore a design that probably made a political statement. The obverse depicts two doves fighting over a worm in front of a hedge row. In the background there is a snake. The implication is that while doves fight over a relatively trivial matter, danger lies just over the horizon. Although most modern Americans take the Constitution and a strong centralized government for granted, in the 1780s the idea of strengthening the central government was a reason for alarm for many citizens. They feared that a strong federal government would become another source of tyranny like the British had been before the Revolutionary War. Prior to war, the cry had been "taxation without representation is tyranny!" They most certainly did not want to see a repeat of that. Therefore the two birds fighting over trivial matters, with the snake background, was a subtle statement of opposition to increasing the power of a federal government. It is interesting to note that the Continental Congress met at Annapolis, Maryland from November 26, 1783 until August 13, 1784 which was the same period during which John Chalmers was producing his coins. This has led some observers to suggest that Chalmers' coinage was a proposal or perhaps an application to produce a national coinage. One of the rarest of the Chalmers coinage is the "rings on the reverse" shilling. (On page 53 in the 2021 Red Book) The obverse features the standard design elements that are found on Chalmers coinage, which include "Chalmers ... Annapolis ... 1783" and a mark of value, "equal to one shi." There is also a pair of hands clasped in a handshake which appears on all Chalmers coinage. The reverse of the coin gives the piece a national character. It consists of 13 linked rings with a five-pointed star in 11 of the rings around the edge. In the center there a liberty pole and cap with an all seeing eye above it. A five pointed star is placed to the left of the liberty cap and perhaps another star was placed at the right although the strike on the finest known example is not sharp enough to confirm that. The speculation is that this piece may have been a pattern for a proposed national coinage. Only five examples of this coin are known in grades ranging from VF-EF to Poor. Although John Chalmers produced his coinage for only a year, it is nevertheless significant. At time when virtually all of the American made circulating coinage was made of copper, his coins were made of silver. As such they only share that distinction with the Massachusetts silver coinage (produced 1652 to 1682) during the pre-federal era. Today nicely preserved examples of John Chalmers' coinage fetch four-figure prices, and are only offered on a sporadic basis.
Loved this post. Nominated for a featured article! And now I have something else to keep an eye out for when digging through "junk" bins.
