http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=390096437721&ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT I saw this coin on Ebay and others like it, but I don't know anything about them and since I don't even know where to search for them I thought some one on here could help me out. I think it is a pretty cool piece being that old and all but I didn't know enough to bid on it. Thanks Kent
Also look up colonial farthing, and hibernia farthing, there were several other british coins used by the Colonies.
Were these coins actually used in America for currency? I don't care about the value I mean they are pretty cheap what I have seen on Ebay I just didn't want to buy a foreign coin, unless it had animals on it my nephew he loves those. Thanks Kent
yes, we didn't have United States coins yet, so they needed something for commerce till we started our own mint.
Ok i don't know much about the history of coinage so I get on here and learn from you Folks. I appreciate it I know I can Google alot of this stuff but you are never sure about some of the information out there and I think people on here are very helpful. Thanks Kent
A few might have managed to have gotten here but in general no they did NOT circulate here. The item linked in the first post is an English 18th century century provincial token, commonly known here in the US as a Conder token after James Conder who wrote what was the standard reference on the series from 1798 til the Atkins book on the series in 1890. This one is listed from the English county of Warwickshire and was struck for John Wilkinson who was a the leading producer of iron in England at the time. (This is a catalogers error as Wilkinson was actually located in Shropshire. And no this was not the John Wilkinson of Wilkinson Steel, he came a little later.) This one is Warwickshire 356 and is listed as Rare. With the corrosion on the obverse it probably went a little higher than it should have. Wilkinson had many tons of tokens produced in three major types between 1787 and 1792. They were widely accepted all over England and for that reason were also counterfeited. Including the counterfeits there are some 130+ varieties of Wilkinson tokens. There were British coins that did circulate here in the US during the colonial era but those were the regal half pence and the counterfeit regal halfpence, with the counterfeits being made both here and in England. Most of these will be dated from 1770 to 1775 (England struck no copper coinage from 1775 til 1797), although the counterfeits can be found with dates in the late 1770's and even early 1780's.
I was wrong, I should have said pre-colonial. Here's a snippet I got from google: "Prior to 1792, everyday business was conducted using a motley accumulation of tokens, coins, medals and counterfeits issued by private individuals, private mints inside and outside of America, and official mints outside of America." Many colonies issued their own coinage, and these are really cool and I wish I could afford some of them. Also, I own a Wood's Hibernia Farthing, that I believe circulated in this era, there is also a Hibernia sixpence. Another snippet: Wood also produced the Rosa Americana series for the colonies, it has been suggested the unwanted Hibernia coins ended up in the American. Although a few examples have been discovered in America, Mossman (p. 134) has concluded: "There is no evidence of any substantial colonial circulation for these coppers . . . although it can be reasonably concluded that any current European coins could have ended up in North America, either brought over by the steady stream of immigrants or in the merchant trade"
