The E-Sylum:  Volume 3, Number 38, September 17, 2000, Article 9

ANDREW ELLIOT, 18TH-CENTURY COIN MAVEN 

   Andrew Pollock reported the following on the C4 (Colonial 
   Coin Collector's Club mailing list: "I stumbled across the 
   following paragraph in Sibley's Harvard Graduates, Volume 
   X, under the biographical sketch of Andrew Eliot (Class of 
   1737): 

   "Eliot [third minister of the New North Church of Boston] 
   was sincerely interested in history.  He rescued old coins 
   from silversmiths and sent them to the collectors among his 
   English friends. He remarked that pine-tree shillings of several 
   dies were still common, but that he had only seen one New 
   England sixpence in his life." 

   The date of his numismatic interest is not mentioned but his 
   death is said to have occurred in 1778. 

   Shipton, Clifford K. "Biographical Sketches of Those Who 
   Attended Harvard College in the Classes 1736-1740, with 
   Bibliographical and Other Notes." Volume X. Boston, Mass. 
   Massachusetts Historical Society. 1958." 

   Your Editor's web search for Andrew Eliot turned up a 
   reference to the E-Sylum archive, where Eliot was mentioned 
   in the Vol 1, No 5. issue (October 14, 1998).  Joel Orosz 
   had mentioned Eliot at a talk to the Chicago Coin Club. 

   After forwarding Pollack's information to Joel, he replied: 
   "I've never written anything about Elliot, only spoke about him, 
   as you note, to the Chicago Coin Club.  It was Eric Newman 
   who first discovered that Elliot was a coin collector.  He wrote 
   about Rev. Elliot in "The Secret of the Good Samaritan Shilling", 
   if memory serves.  This is a great find on Pollock's part - it adds 
   an important fact to our knowledge about 18th century U.S. 
   numismatics- that the NE Sixpence was exceedingly rare even 
   then.  Elliot did die in 1778.   Thanks for sending Andy my way 
   - this is great stuff!" 

  Wayne Homren, Editor

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