As a young boy, I often stared in absolute amazement at the pictures in my Coin Magazines of the day. Often, they would show pictures of these old coins that pre-dated the Revolutionary War. The thought that these coins could have been in the pockets of the very people that came over on the Mayflower just blew my mind. Recently, as an adult, it occurred to me.... Why did all the coins have the same date? After searching and searching, I realized that there was no one perfect page of information on these coins (in regards to their history). I decided I would put together something for everyone to enjoy! If you have anything to add to my writing, please feel free to join in! I hope you enjoy it as much as I had researching and writing about it! The New World… with an Old Fashioned Monetary System December 26th, 1620 (New Calendar Format). The Pilgrims set foot on North American soil for the first time. One year later, sometime between September 21 and November 9th, they celebrated their first Harvest Festival (Thanksgiving). We all learn this story in school, re-enact plays about it, and even color in coloring books about it. But… as a coin collector… did you ever stop and think “What was in their pockets?”? During this time, there was no real need for currency, as found throughout Europe, and even in the ancient world (Rome, Greece, etc…). Some of the original colonists on the Mayflower brought coins, jewelry and other precious metals with them, but with no markets, taverns or establishments of any sorts, there was no place to spend it! Money was of little use in the New World. As the years went by, the Settlers of the New World began to use an age old method of trading and bartering as a monetary system. Goods such as crops, livestock, musket balls and many other things were frequently traded between the colonists in order to survive. By the late 1620’s, the Dutch settlers of New York were trading with the local Indians, and in turn, introduced the European settlers of North America to the Wampum. Wampum mainly consisted of jewelry, which was made from small colorful beads originating from different Sea Shells (Such as the Quohog Clam). By 1637, Wampum was so commonplace and popular, that the Massachusetts Bay Colony made it a legal tender that could be used to pay taxes. After 30 years of this system, it began to break down. Wampum was commonly being made from sub-quality shells, breaking often and having bad colors. By 1661, Massachusetts declared Wampum was no longer legal tender. Additionally, the bartering and trading system began to break down too as supply and demand began to be inconsistent and unfair at times. Rebels without a King Throughout the colonies, above livestock or Wampum, the colonists always preferred Specie (gold and silver coins) to ANY other form of payments. The problem was that when the settlers first arrived, they brought with them very little precious metals from Europe. Eventually, maritime trading brought foreign coins to North America which included English coins, Spanish coins and many others. Strangely enough, Pirates loved Massachusetts. They were well known to come to Mass in order to spend their plunder. Their Specie was well received and was worth a great value! Over time, even this system was doomed to fail. These foreign coins were worth different amounts as you traveled from Colony to Colony. Because of that, the majority of these foreign coins were found in the colonies where the money was worth the most. By 1652, the shortage of coinage had become an extreme problem. The King of England had consistently ignored the colonist's request for Specie, suggesting they continue to use a combination of foreign coin, along with animal and crop trading. He had too many other things to worry about at the time than to be bothered with such a minute request. In 1649, the King of England (King Charles) was beheaded. England was now a republic, with no real clear leader. That was all the Massachusetts Bay Colony needed. On May 26/27th of 1652, they quickly authorized the production of their own money! The idea was simple really. Take a portion of the Silver coming up from the South, melt it down and make coins out of it for their own use. The General Court of Massachusetts Bay authorized silversmiths John Hull and Robert Sanderson to strike Shilling, Sixpence and Threepence coins. Records indicate that Hull had a building (referred to as “The Mint”) built by local workers in June-July of 1652. The coins were to first be released to the public by 1st September, 1652. The NE Coins The coins first produced at the newly formed mint had NE stamped at 12 o’clock on the obverse, and the roman numbers III, VI and XII at 6 o’clock on the reverse. These lettering were offset so that the dies would not crush or break each other. Interestingly, according to the records, the coins approved by the Massachusetts lawmakers were to be square (not round), and were to have a ‘privy mint mark’ put on the coin. As we can all see, the coins are more ‘round’ than square. However, to date, no one has ever discovered if there is a special mint mark on the coin. A Quick Change of Design After only a few months, by October, it was realized that the coins were easy to counterfeit. In addition, the coins were often clipped down some reducing the diameter of the coin (hence, the amount of silver), yet keeping the general design. In order to thwart counterfeiters, on October 19th, 1652, the Massachusetts Bay colony passed a new law that changed the design of the coin. This Is when the Willow Tree design was introduced. A press and die had to be produced in order to make these new coins, so it is thought that the Willow Tree coins were not produced until 1654. Over 30 years, four coin designs were used. Each coin design (except the 2 pence Oak) bore the date 1652. Why? The date was used in order to deceive the King of England. If England should get their hands on these coins (and they frequently did during ship visits to New England for goods trading), the coins would be seen as produced during a time of no King reign. - 1652 – 1654(?) – NE Coin (Shilling, Sixpence and Threepence) - 1652 - 1660 – Willow Tree Shilling (Shilling, Sixpence and Threepence) - 1660 – 1667 – Oak Tree Shilling (Except for Twopence, all have 1652 date. The twopence with 1662 is thought to be all counterfeit). (Twopence, Threepence, Sixpence and Shilling) - 1667 – 1682 – Pine Tree Shilling (Threepence, Sixpence and Shilling) John Hull died on October 1, 1683. The contract that Hull and Sanderson had signed ran through 1684, so Sanderson finished the contract by himself. Eventually, due to the cost of producing coins, as well as the availability of silver, it became too costly to continue producing the coins, and the contract expired. Along with this, by 1683, King Charles the II re-enforced the rule that the Massachusetts colony could not produce it’s own money, and the production of these coins ceased.Robert Sanderson died on September 11, 1714. The Pine Tree's are coming... The Pine Tree's are coming..... A coin was unearthed in the early 19th century during an excavation in Boston’s North End. Paul Revere has been credited as the designer and engraver of the Massachusetts Pine Tree Penny. Notice the similarities to both the King George coin’s of the era, as well as the Pine Tree Shillings? This coin was never put into production (that we know of), and there is only one known to exist.
1. Why do you have pics of rocker press dies ? 2. Very coincidentally the "pine tree penny" was "found" around the same time of a large wave of interest in colonials, and also around the time that other things of similar quality (read: terrible) were found.
I and many others had always thought these only circulated in the 17th century, but then the wreck of the Feversham off of Nova Scotia was worked beginning in 1996 that over 100 examples of the Massachusetts silver were found - proving that the coins circulated into the 18th century as the Feversham sunk in 1711. I really want to pick up a Pine Tree coin sometime - just haven't found one I like yet.
Thanks for the responses. The picture of the "Rocker Dies" are one of the theories on how the original NE coins were produced. The records have been lost as to how they were exactly made, but the Rocker theory is one out there. Looking at some of those early coins, I can easily see those early asymmetric coins being made in press like that! And... the (read: terrible)? Did you not like my post?
Uhh...Can you say roller dies? Every silversmith had a pair of rollers for rolling out metal and could easily be converted to make coins. Furthermore they were easy to make, unlike rockers which were were extremely complex. As one can see from the surviving pics of Spanish rockers these things are easily one to two feet tall!
Can't seem to find any examples of Roller Dies for coin making using Google. I'd love to see a pic of them. One of the articles I read said that after the NE coins were made, when they were moving towards a more sophisticated coin design, Hull and Sanderson began seeking out a Die maker. They exchanged letters with a resident of Saugus, MA of the time that was previously a Die maker in England. Records do not definitively indicate whether he got the job or not, but records suggest he did not.
Yes these are roller dies, but early American silver smiths would have had smaller more portable machines intended for rolling out silver(remember, the first rollers had to be brought over from England). This one is purely for making coins. I believe there is a former Spanish South American mint that has some smaller examples posted online.
This was to show BostonCoins an example that he was looking for ,not an example of the actual type that would have been used. Uhhh...Yes , everything had to be brought over from overseas BostonCoins here is an example of a smaller rolling press that the colonial silversmiths could have used .
