Hello everyone! New themed thread here called "Take Me Back Thursday!". It's all about Colonial coins that circulated in the US prior to 1792. I have 2 Colonial coin websites for reference. University of Notre Dame/ gallery of coins that qualify. COLONIAL COINS (Table of Contents) (nd.edu) US_Colonials_Photo_Gallery.pub (pnna.org) This luckily is my 1787 CT. Copper and a 1753 British Half Penny that I dug while detecting a cellar hole years ago.The 1787 is in "fragile" condition but has excellent detail for a dug coin. I have the variety written down somewhere. It's a pretty ordinary coin variety from what I can tell. The British KG2 coin was also found here in Connecticut. Please post your Colonial coins or Tokens as well... Looking forward to seeing them.
Two nice old coins despite being in the ground for a long time. The stories they could tell if only.... Bruce
Nice detail for dug coins! The Connecticut is a 32.1-X.3 which is a rarity 4 variety, which translates out to 76-200 estimated population.
I really like the Colonial and Pre-Federation coinage. I collect them by type as part of my US Type Set. Basically, anything that circulated in what would become the U.S. is fair game for this set. Here's a few. Didn't show the Spanish ones and haven't tried for any of the French or Dutch coins, yet.
This one came back today from PCGS reholdering. When I bought it at the last FUN show, the slab had a crack across the obverse and the dealer sent it back for reholdering. Here's the TrueView since I haven't had a chance to take my own photos. Graded AU-50. Die marriage is Miller 16.1-D. About an R-2.
This is my 1787 Fugio Cent minted here in my state in the city of New Haven, CT. It was found while metal detecting in around the year 2004. Along with it was several colonial buttons, coins and buckles. It was probably run over by either a buggy, Oxen or Horse. Just my theory based on it being somewhat bent and scraped. Boy! What I would do to visit this one-time permission again. I know it doesn't look like much, but I look at it more as a historical item. This coin was after all designed by the man himself, Benjamin Franklin.
Everything shown in this thread so far was die struck and as a general rule, all legitimate Colonial and Pre-Federal coins were die struck. Even many illegitimate coins, such as those from Machins Mills, were die struck. There are cast contemporary counterfeits, even those of Great Britain, that were circulating in the colonies.
They were struck. Casting is the stock and trade for counterfeiters. Striking coins is faster once you have quality dies, and the resulting coins have a far more consistent appearance. If you got caught casting coins during the colonial or confederation era, heaven help you. Able Buel, who made dies for the Connecticut coppers and the Fugio cents, got caught raising 5 shilling note to five pound notes. Since he was young, well regarded in the community and it was his first offense, they went easy on him. They lopped off the tip of his ear, branded a “C” high upon his forehead so that he could cover it with his hair later, fined him and tossed him in jail. The hardened counterfeiters ended up much worse. They weren’t kidding when they put, “To counterfeit is death,” on colonial era notes.
