Last week we discussed Lord Timothy Dexter (1747-1806), a wealthy eccentric from Newburyport, Massachusetts. Dick Hanscom writes: "See page 82 of the 8th edition of my book "Striking gold in Alaska" for a bit about Lord Tim." I pulled the book from my shelf and read that Dick once struck a coin honoring his hometown celebrity. He kindly passed along the text and images to share with readers. Thank you. -Editor

Being from Newburyport, Mass., I decided that a local eccentric needed to have his own coin. Thus, the 1790 "T. Dexter Shilling" was born. It is struck in sterling silver to the approximate weight of a then current British Shilling. Large and small diameter tokens were struck, similar to the Massachusetts Pine Tree Shilling. These were antiqued by darkening with a sulphur and petroleum jelly mix and then tumbled with rocks.

The obverse bears the legend "T. Dexter, His Shilling" surrounding a glove. Dexter was a leather dresser, and his shop was at the "sign of the glove." The reverse states "Newbury Port, 1790" surrounding "XII" for 12 pence. (Newbury Port because Newburyport did not come into existence until 1764 when it split from Newbury)

Dexter claimed to have 4,000 Pounds Sterling. Now this can be interpreted as pounds by weight, or Pound by currency. Most likely it was Pounds by currency, which was a substantial sum at the time.

Dexter made a fortune speculating in Continental Currency, and this was probably the source of his 4,000 Pounds. He was also a successful merchant, trading with Europe and the Caribbean. (sending coal to Newcastle and bed warming pans to the Caribbean, which were used for molasses)

Go to www.lordtimothydexter.com for more information than you ever wanted to know! His is a truly remarkable story.

"I remember walking by the Lord Timothy Dexter House. He was still a legend in the 1950s and 60s.

"Visiting Newburyport after I made these, I walked around town dropping them. Never did see a mention of them in the Newburyport Daily News. A few years later I stopped in at the Old Newbury Historical Society (home of the Jacob Perkins printing exhibit) and asked if they had seen a Dexter Shilling. They had. I told them I was responsible for them, and gave them a copy of my book. The person said "they had blamed it on so and so." Didn't recognize the name."