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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;Jimski, post: 8047300, member: 77373&quot;]1984 Bermuda I cent … recalls the earliest numismatic history of North America.</p><p>[ATTACH=full]1393099[/ATTACH] [ATTACH=full]1393100[/ATTACH]</p><p><br /></p><p>The hog on the reverse of the Bermuda penny is modeled after the design found on the first British coins of the New World … the 1615-1616 Hogge Money of Bermuda.</p><p><br /></p><p>[ATTACH=full]1393101[/ATTACH]</p><p>{3}<i>The <b>1615-16 Coins of Bermuda (Sommer Islands): The First English Coins of North America</b>.&nbsp; CoinWeek Column by Greg Reynolds</i></p><p><i>In 1615 or 1616, coins were introduced in Bermuda </i>{then called Somers Sommer Islands}<i>. … Bermuda was then and still is a British colony. It is thus unsurprising that the first coins of Bermuda were denominated in British units: Twopence, Threepence, Sixpence and Twelvepence.&nbsp; These are the same denominations as the coins of the Massachusetts Bay Colony, </i>{see images farther down}<i> which were issued later in the same century</i> {1652}<i>.&nbsp; <i>Coins of all four denominations are undated; there is no indication on these coins of the year during which they were struck. Historical records suggest that they were struck in 1615 and/or 1616.</i></i></p><p><i><i><br /></i></i></p><p>{2}<i><i>To keep the coins from being exported out of the islands they were intentionally made in a crude fashion from a low-grade, brassy copper … which unfortunately did not hold up well in the salty Bermuda environment. …</i></i></p><p><i><i><br /></i></i></p><p><i><i><br /></i></i></p><p>{1}<i><i> <b><i>At some point in the 1500s, Bermuda was well populated by …feral hogs</i></b></i></i></p><p><i><i><i>The ancestors of the hogs of Bermuda may have come off a Portuguese ship that crashed at Bermuda in 1543 and/or they could have come from other shipwrecks. One theory is that operational Spanish ships deliberately released them on Bermuda for the benefit of sailors who may find themselves there in the future …</i></i></i></p><p><i><i><br /></i></i></p><p><i><i><i>On Dec. 15, 1593, a French ship ... was wrecked off the coast of Bermuda. There is evidence that the survivors ate many hogs found on Bermuda. …</i></i></i></p><p><i><i><br /></i></i></p><p><i><i>Captain John Smith </i></i>{*}<i> in his book published in 1624, The </i><u><i>Generall Historie of Virginia, New-England, and the Summer Isles</i></u><i>, wrote of the colony at Bermuda, then known as Sommer Islands<i> “… they had for a time a certain type of brasse money with a hogge on one side, in memory of the abundance of hogges found at their first landing </i></i>{23}.</p><blockquote><p><font size="4">{*} </font><i><i><font size="4">Captain John Smith is famously known for his leadership of the Jamestown colony, the first permanent colony of North America.&nbsp;&nbsp; <i>He had never visited Bermuda</i> … <i>His information on Bermuda may have come from the then Governor, Nathaniel Butler </i>{Wikipedia}. </font> <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Generall_Historie_of_Virginia,_New-England,_and_the_Summer_Isles" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Generall_Historie_of_Virginia,_New-England,_and_the_Summer_Isles" rel="nofollow"><font size="3">https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Generall_Historie_of_Virginia,_New-England,_and_the_Summer_Isles</font></a></i></i></p></blockquote><p><i><i><br /></i></i></p><p><i><i><br /></i></i></p><p><b>The most popular guide book for US coins, the “Red Book”, lists the Sommer Islands (Bermuda) coinage first in there chronologically organized coin listings. They appear under the heading of “British New World Issues”.</b></p><p><i>[ATTACH=full]1393103[/ATTACH] </i></p><p><i><br /></i></p><p>{3} <b><i><i>All Bermuda (Sommer Islands) coins are intensely demanded by collectors, even those </i></i>{coins} <i><i>with severe problems.</i></i></b></p><p><i>A<i>lthough Bermuda never really played a significant role in the history of the United States, or in the history of the British colonies that became the original thirteen United States, collectors of American colonial coins often seek the 1615-16 coins of Bermuda (Sommer Islands).</i></i></p><p><i><i><br /></i></i></p><p><i><i><i>Bermuda “Hogge Money” Coin Sold For $96,000.</i></i></i></p><p>[ATTACH=full]1393106[/ATTACH]</p><p>{5} <i>A rare example of Bermuda “Hogge Money” … sold for $96,000 when it was auctioned last night, with the coin one of only eight examples known to exist. In a statement Heritage Auctions, which specialises in numismatics and collectibles, said the “Hogge Money” piece it was selling had “recently surfaced in Bermuda.”</i></p><p><br /></p><p><i>The auction house continued: “The threepence is the rarest of the denominations, with only eight examples known, including the recently discovered coin offered here. Only four of the eight known examples are in private hands, with the other four in institutional collections.”</i></p><p><i><br /></i></p><p><i>Another Bermuda “Hogge Money” coin from the 1600s, a sixpence, sold during the same auction for “only” $13,200, with the auction house stating that “thanks to modern metal detector finds and excavations” there are approximately 40 sixpence known to collectors today, while another 300 year old Bermuda coin, a shilling,&nbsp; fetched $11,400.</i></p><p><i><br /></i></p><p>{2} <i><i>Before the 1960&#039;s few Hogge coins were known to have survived. However, with the widespread use of metal detectors in the past few decades, about fifty additional examples of Hogge coins have been uncovered in Bermuda, but most are in very poor condition. Very few readable examples are extant.</i></i></p><p><i><br /></i></p><p><i><br /></i></p><p>[ATTACH=full]1393113[/ATTACH]</p><p><br /></p><p><b><br /></b></p><p><b>There are copies of Hogge money coins made the 1850’s that are recognized numismatically.</b></p><p>[ATTACH=full]1393116[/ATTACH]</p><p><br /></p><p>{2a} <i>In Philadelphia, during the 1850&#039;s, Montroville Wilson Dickeson made several copies of the shilling, one of which is displayed </i>{below}<i>.&nbsp; This is a copper proof copy of the Sommer Islands shilling produced by … Dickeson … in the 1850&#039;s. </i>{2a}</p><p>[ATTACH=full]1393118[/ATTACH]</p><p>{2a} <i>Examples were produced in copper, brass, nickel and white metal. The images on the obverse and reverse are quite similar to the originals but do not exactly match every detail. This copy is listed in Kenney on p. 12 under Dickeson, no. 1. … The reverse of the Dickeson copy imitates the &quot;small sail&quot; shilling variety. …</i></p><p><br /></p><p>[ATTACH=full]1393119[/ATTACH]</p><p><br /></p><p><font size="4">{Above} Sommer Islands Shilling Small Sails (Regular Strike), PCGS AU53.&nbsp; {2a} The die defect at the 3rd porthole in the below ship was sometimes interpreted as smoke from a cannon.&nbsp; This is the possible justification for the cannon smoke in Dickeson’s reverse above. </font></p><p><br /></p><p>{24} <b><i>Beyond their numismatic value, Dickeson’s fantasy replicas are significant in that they help establish the timeframes for hogge money’s re-emergence</i></b><i>.&nbsp; Dickeson fabricated his replicas during the 1850s to satisfy the demand for specimens among American numismatists.&nbsp; This indicates that by the 1850s, news of the </i>{first hogge specimens found} <i>two shillings and the sixpence had spread sufficiently to stimulate collector interest among American numismatists.</i></p><p><br /></p><p><i>Dickeson’s fantasy pieces could not be construed as an attempt to defraud numismatists as he took the liberty of altering certain reverse features. … The most significant distinction between Dickeson’s replicas and authentic specimens was the quality of finished specimen.&nbsp; </i>Authentic specimens are crude hammered coins, but Dickeson’s replicas were machine struck on rounds planchets and have a proof-like finish.</p><p><br /></p><p>{23} <i>Rediscovery </i></p><p><i>Hogge money of Somers’ Islands began its slow re-emergence during the nineteenth century, after almost two centuries of absence.&nbsp; The facts surrounding their rediscovery are almost shadowy as their origins.&nbsp; Exactly when and where the first specimens were discovered may never be known.&nbsp; It is known that American numismatists were well aware of hogge money during the 1850s, and that they were considered exceedingly rare.&nbsp; Also, thanks to the writings of Sylvester Crosby it is evident that no one really knew what hogge money specimens were at the time of re-discovery.</i></p><p><i><br /></i></p><p><i>{2} {The Sommer Islands Hogge coinage was} <i>crude, light weight </i>{and}<i> not well received and went out of use by 1624. </i></i></p><p><i><br /></i></p><p><i><br /></i></p><p><i>[ATTACH=full]1393120[/ATTACH] </i></p><p><br /></p><p><font size="3">{1} <a href="https://www.coinworld.com/news/precious-metals/hogge-money-reborn-on-2016-kennedy-half-dollars.html" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="https://www.coinworld.com/news/precious-metals/hogge-money-reborn-on-2016-kennedy-half-dollars.html" rel="nofollow">https://www.coinworld.com/news/precious-metals/hogge-money-reborn-on-2016-kennedy-half-dollars.html</a> </font></p><p><font size="3"><br /></font></p><p><font size="3">{2} <a href="https://coins.nd.edu/ColCoin/ColCoinIntros/SommerIsland.intro.html%20" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="https://coins.nd.edu/ColCoin/ColCoinIntros/SommerIsland.intro.html%20" rel="nofollow">https://coins.nd.edu/ColCoin/ColCoinIntros/SommerIsland.intro.html</a> </font></p><p><font size="3"><br /></font></p><p><font size="3">{2a} <a href="https://coins.nd.edu/ColCoin/ColCoinText/SommerIsland.html%20" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="https://coins.nd.edu/ColCoin/ColCoinText/SommerIsland.html%20" rel="nofollow">https://coins.nd.edu/ColCoin/ColCoinText/SommerIsland.html</a> </font></p><p><font size="3"><br /></font></p><p><font size="3">{3] <a href="https://coinweek.com/featured-news/the-1615-16-coins-of-bermuda-sommer-islands-the-first-english-coins-of-north-america/" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="https://coinweek.com/featured-news/the-1615-16-coins-of-bermuda-sommer-islands-the-first-english-coins-of-north-america/" rel="nofollow">https://coinweek.com/featured-news/the-1615-16-coins-of-bermuda-sommer-islands-the-first-english-coins-of-north-america/</a> </font></p><p><font size="3"><br /></font></p><p><font size="3">{5} <a href="http://bernews.com/2019/09/bermuda-hogge-money-coin-sold-for-96000/" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="http://bernews.com/2019/09/bermuda-hogge-money-coin-sold-for-96000/" rel="nofollow">http://bernews.com/2019/09/bermuda-hogge-money-coin-sold-for-96000/</a>&nbsp; </font></p><p><font size="3"><br /></font></p><p><font size="3">{23} Money of the Caribbean, edited by Richard Doty and John M. Kleeburg, Coinage of the America Conference at American Numismatic society New York&nbsp; December 4, 1999.&nbsp; Pg70, 81 and 84. <a href="https://archive.org/stream/moneyofcaribbean0000doty/moneyofcaribbean0000doty_djvu.txt" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="https://archive.org/stream/moneyofcaribbean0000doty/moneyofcaribbean0000doty_djvu.txt" rel="nofollow">https://archive.org/stream/moneyofcaribbean0000doty/moneyofcaribbean0000doty_djvu.txt</a> </font></p><p><font size="3"><br /></font></p><p><font size="3">{24} <a href="https://nnp.wustl.edu/library/book/513992?page=42" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="https://nnp.wustl.edu/library/book/513992?page=42" rel="nofollow">https://nnp.wustl.edu/library/book/513992?page=42</a>&nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp; Somers Islands Hogge Money: Rediscovery!, by Mark A. Sportack; Easton, PA</font>[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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