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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;ColonialDave, post: 1958743, member: 56493&quot;]For some odd reason back on the 4th of July, I started thinking about the German &quot;Hessian&quot; mercenary troops, with their unusual cone shaped brass helmet hats and handlebar mustaches, that King George III of England hired in 1776 and 1777 to help put down the rebellion in the American Colonies.&nbsp; With that, I began wondering what coins these troops might of brought with them on their sea voyage over to the 13 American Colonies.</p><p><br /></p><p>I have often found the Hessian soldiers of the American Revolution to be somewhat of a bizarre,&nbsp; mysterious, and yet facinating footnote of Revolutionary war.&nbsp; In reality, the combined total of 30,000 Hessian soldiers sent to North American were hardly a footnote.&nbsp; Hessian soldiers were present more frequently than even British units in the many battles against the American colonists during the war.&nbsp; </p><p><br /></p><p>Anyway, back to the coins.&nbsp; Where were these Hessian soldiers from?&nbsp; The largest of the group came from the German State of Hesse Cassel; hence the nickname Hessian. The second largest of the group was from the German state of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel. Other units came from Hesse Hanau, Waldeck, Ansbach-Bayreuth, and Anhalt-Zerbst.&nbsp; </p><p><br /></p><p>Each of these German States did strike coins of many different types and denominations during this time period of 1775-1783.&nbsp; Many of these coins bear symbols and designs which also adorned the Hessian soldier&#039;s flags, uniforms, and brass helmet hats such as striped lions, horses, crowns with initials, etc.&nbsp; Actual uniform pieces are extremely rare and unaffordable, but the German state coins of the period by and large are not.&nbsp; </p><p><br /></p><p>One popular, yet expensive, German state coin of the period that collectors have talked about and collected is the so called &quot;Blood Thaler&quot;, and even the 1/2 thaler, of Hesse Cassel struck in 1776.&nbsp; These were also struck in 1778 and 1779, but in my research none of these coins have been found in Hessian soldier campsites in North America.&nbsp; </p><p><br /></p><p>My desire is to find out what exactly they brought over and used.&nbsp; Most likely the small change they brought over would have been struck prior to 1776-1777 and would have been small billon and copper denominations. Also it is possible that they exchanged their German coins for British coins and paper script\currency.</p><p><br /></p><p>I have started looking for archaelogical excavation reports online, as well as searching metal detecting forums for German coins that have been found at colonial sites and revolutionary war campsites.&nbsp; So far not a whole lot has turned up.&nbsp; However, it does appear that several small denomination Hesse Cassel Heller and Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel pfenning coin varieties, dated in the 1740s through 1760s time frame based on the coin descriptions, have been found at some New York area Revolutionary War campsite locations.&nbsp; </p><p><br /></p><p>If any of you have more information on archaeological coin finds of 18th century German State coinage in North America or other details about coins of the Hessian soldiers please post it here.&nbsp; Thank you.[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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