New Jersey "St. Patrick" Coins

About This Coin

Among the most technically fascinating and historically debated pieces in colonial American numismatics, the St. Patrick coins feature a unique bimetallic construction — a brass plug inserted into a copper flan — that makes them one of the earliest examples of bimetallic coinage in the Western Hemisphere. Measuring 26 mm in diameter, these coins were likely produced in Dublin, Ireland, during the 1640s-1670s, with attribution debated between Thomas Simon and Jan Roettiers as possible die engravers. The obverse depicts King David playing a harp with a crown above, while the reverse shows St. Patrick driving snakes from Ireland with the legend ECCE GREX ("Behold the Flock") or QUIESCAT PLEBS ("May the People Rest"). The coins found their primary circulation in colonial New Jersey, where the provincial legislature granted them legal tender status in 1682 at a value of one halfpenny. Both farthing and halfpence denominations exist, with various die varieties cataloged in the Vlack reference system and updated by Martin's 2018 research. The origin of these coins — whether Irish, English, or Continental — remains one of the enduring mysteries of colonial numismatics, with competing theories placing their manufacture at different mints and attributing them to different political or commercial purposes. Collectors prize St. Patrick coins for their combination of historical mystery, technical novelty, and direct connection to colonial New Jersey's monetary history.