COPPERS OF GEORGE WASHINGTON'S AMERICA

George Washington's Coppers

At the well-attended Fairfax Coin Club meeting on Tuesday, May 13 at the Vienna Community Center, John Kraljevich gave a talk on "The Coppers of George Washington's America: 1732-1799." Kraljevich, an expert on the coinage of Colonial America, is Director of Numismatic Americana for Stack's Bowers Galleries, a leading auction house. ( https://stacksbowers.com/ )

Although scarce gold and silver coins of many nations circulated in early America based on their bullion value, humble copper coins used as small change were basically just tokens, not "legal tender." Kraljevich explained that "if it was small and round and brown, it passed as a copper." Officially, 96 coppers exchanged for one Spanish milled dollar, but in the "Copper Panic of 1789" ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Copper_Panic_of_1789) when the colonies were flooded with lightweight counterfeits, the rate rose as high as 180.

The Red Book, issued annually since 1947 is the standard reference for collectors of American coins, but it is not a good guide to what actually circulated in America during George Washington's life. The Red Book contains many costly rarities that most Americans of the era would never have seen, it excludes many foreign types that circulated widely, and the inclusion of items in the book is often based more on "tradition" than evidence.

 

Our modern understanding of the circulating coinage in the 18th century is based largely on archaeology, metal detector finds, and surviving documentary evidence. The most common copper coins of Colonial America were half pennies of George III (who ruled from 1760 to 1820), which were widely counterfeited - in fact fakes were more common than genuine pieces.

Kraljevich noted that the only "official" copper coin of colonial America was the Virginia half penny of 1773-1774. (https://emuseum.history.org/objects/67961/virginia-12d-no-period )

The talk was well-illustrated, with photos of many examples found in excavations in and around Virginia. Many thanks to John for a most informative and enjoyable talk.

 

For more information on the Fairfax Coin Club, see:
https://fairfaxcoinclub.com/

	NBS (coinbooks.org) Web