Post-1776 Private and Regional Issues (1778-1820)

The years between independence and the opening of a working federal coinage left the states short of small change, and private makers filled part of the gap. In Annapolis the goldsmith John Chalmers struck silver shillings, sixpences and threepences dated 1783. A German traveller of the time, quoted by Crosby, wrote that the goldsmith coined on his own account and took in the cut fragments of Spanish dollars that had made ordinary trade awkward. In Baltimore a small silver threepence reading BALTIMORE TOWN JULY 4 90 bears the name of Standish Barry. See the Chalmers group and the Baltimore threepence.

Much of the copper in this group came from English makers who saw a market across the Atlantic. Crosby quotes Bushnell's notes that the Nova Constellatio coppers dated 1783 and 1785 were struck in Birmingham from dies cut by Wyon for a New York gentleman thought to be Gouverneur Morris, and that the Bar copper with its USA monogram was made there in 1785. The Nova Eborac coppers of 1787 carry New York's arms but, as Crosby points out, the state never authorized them. Closer to home, Thomas Machin, who had laid the chain across the Hudson at West Point for the Continental Army, opened a works near Newburgh, New York, in 1787 with coining as its main business; the imitation British halfpence filed under Machin's Mills are attributed to it and to related makers.

From 1789 merchants began to issue their own coppers. William and John Mott, watch and clock dealers of Water Street in New York, put out a token dated 1789 that Crosby calls the first American tradesman's token, made in England. Talbot, Allum & Lee, New York merchants in the India trade, followed with cents dated 1794 and 1795 from Birmingham dies. In 1790 the trustees of the First Presbyterian Church of Albany voted to have a thousand coppers stamped for the congregation (search).

The 1790s also brought tokens that used American themes without any American issuer. The Kentucky token with its pyramid of fifteen stars, the Auctori Plebis token and the Franklin Press token appear among English token plates of 1796. The tokens of 1796 payable by P. P. P. Myddelton, struck by Boulton and Watt, advertise a British settlement in Kentucky. The Theatre at New York penny was struck in London as a proof for collectors (search). The Castorland jeton was struck at the Paris Mint in 1796 for French settlers in northern New York.

The group closes with pieces from the edges of the country. The North West Company issued fur-trade tokens dated 1820, its last year before it merged with the Hudson's Bay Company (search). In Spanish Texas, copper half reales called jolas were made at San Antonio de Béxar in 1817 and 1818 (search). The 1776 Massachusetts and New Hampshire patterns and the North American token dated 1781 but struck later in Dublin are also filed here.

These pieces are told apart by their legends, devices and edges rather than by dates and mint marks. None of them carries a mint mark, and several carry no date or a false one: the Kentucky token is undated, the North American token is dated 1781 but was struck decades later (search), and Machin's Mills halfpence carry dates from 1747 to 1788 copied from British coins.

Edges matter for the English tokens. Crosby records the Talbot, Allum & Lee cents of 1794 with the edge PAYABLE AT THE STORE OF and the 1795 cents with WE PROMISE TO PAY THE BEARER ONE CENT. The Kentucky token comes with plain, engrailed and lettered edges, among them PAYABLE IN LANCASTER LONDON OR BRISTOL, and Mott tokens come on thick and thin planchets with plain or milled edges.

Die details separate the varieties of a type. Chalmers shillings come from two reverse dies that differ in where the bar under the serpent falls; one shilling of Chalmers, with a chain of rings on the reverse, was supposed in Crosby's time to be unique. Nova Constellatio coppers are sorted by the shape of the rays around the eye and the size of the US monogram, and Machin's Mills pieces by Vlack's die pairs. The Rhode Island ship medal is known with the Dutch word VLUGTENDE below the ship, with the word removed, and with a wreath in its place (search).

For the Castorland jeton the question is whether a piece is one of the 1796 strikes or a later Paris Mint restrike. Later pieces often name their metal on the edge and some pair the original obverse with a copy reverse (search). Each restrike has its own page here, separate from the originals.

• Chalmers silver (1783): shillings with the large and short serpent, the rings shilling, the sixpence and the threepence. See the rings shilling.
• Nova Constellatio coppers (1783-1786): pointed and blunt rays, large and small US, the 1785 dates and the 1786 piece Crosby knew in two examples. See the Nova Constellatio group; the silver patterns of 1783 belong to the proposed national issues.
• Machin's Mills and related halfpence: George III imitations dated 1747 to 1788, with IUS and IVS reverse legends among the 1772 and 1774 dates.
• Merchant tokens: the Mott token of 1789 and the Talbot, Allum & Lee cents of 1794 and 1795, including proofs and a silver striking.
• English tokens with American themes: the undated Kentucky token, the Myddelton tokens of 1796 in silver and copper, the Franklin Press token of 1794 and the Auctori Plebis token of 1787.
• Albany church penny (1790): the variety with D above CHURCH and the one without.
• Castorland jeton (1796): originals in silver and bronze and Paris Mint restrikes in gold, silver and bronze. See the Castorland group.
• Rhode Island ship medal: the VLUGTENDE, no-wreath and wreath varieties in bronze, brass, pewter and silvered metal. See the Rhode Island group.
• Later pieces: the North West Company token of 1820 in brass and copper, and the Texas jolas of 1817 and 1818.

Most of these pieces are copper. The Chalmers coins and the Baltimore threepence are silver; Crosby gives the Chalmers shilling at 57 grains, the sixpence at 28 and the threepence at 12. The Myddelton token was struck in both silver and copper, and Talbot, Allum & Lee cents are known in silver as well as copper. The North West Company token was struck in brass and copper (search). The Rhode Island ship medal is found in bronze, brass and pewter, and Castorland pieces in gold, silver and bronze, many of the later ones naming their metal on the edge (search). Weights of the copper tokens vary widely: Crosby records Mott tokens from 108 to 171 grains and Kentucky tokens from 155 to 192 grains.