The March meeting was on the coins of the USA. here are some coins members brought along
American
coins
A1
French Coinage for Canada and Louisiana:
In
1721-1722 the mints at Rouen (mintmark B) and La Rochelle (mintmark H) produced
a copper nine deniers coin for the colonies using copper planchets imported
from Sweden. In the summer of 1722 over a half million (534,000) nine deniers
coppers were shipped to Canada. Canadians disliked this coin because it was underweight
and was not accepted in the British colonies.
A
2 Rosa Americana Tokens 1722-1724:
William
Wood, owner of several copper and tin mines, hoped to make a profit producing
coins for use in Ireland and America. The coins were made of an alloy called
Bath metal composed of 75% brass, 20% zinc (mixed with tin and bismuth) and 5%
silver and were to weigh slightly less than half the weight of English coins.
Wood produced twopence, penny and halfpenny coins dated 1722-1723. These underweight
coins were not generally accepted by the colonists.
A3The
Virginia Halfpenny of 1773:
These
coins, designed by Yeo, were made at the Tower mint in London. The Revolution
broke out just before they were not used until after the war. The halfpenny
displays the bust of George III on the obverse with the shield of Virginia on
the reverse.
A4 Massachusetts 1787 cent produced locally
B1
The Washington Double Head Cent Token:
This is
one of four interrelated Washington tokens of which three bear the date 1783
and two have the designation of "ONE CENT". The Military Bust token
was designed by Thomas Wells Ingram and was struck at Bolton's Soho Mint in
Birmingham, England between 1820 and 1848, with the 30's or 40's appearing more
likely as the token was still in circulation at mid century. Little is known
about the Double Head token. It is usually considered to be an imitation of the
military bust by an unidentified Birmingham mint.
B2
Washington Military Bust Tokens:
The
obverse depicts a laurel wreathed bust facing left in a military uniform with
the legend "WASHINGTON AND INDEPENDENCE" and the date 1783
commemorating the end of the Revolutionary War. Clearly, the bust is meant to
represent George Washington. However, the central bust punch used for this
series was originally produced and used for the Wellington peninsular tokens.
They were ordered by J. Picard of Hull from the Birmingham factory of the
button and medal maker Sir Edward Thomason. The Wellington tokens were struck
at Thomason's press with dies and punches cut by Thomas Halliday, a die-sinker
located on Newhall Street in Birmingham.
B3 Merchant token 1850s
Bust of Liberty left, LIBERTY on tiara,
PROFESSOR. JOHNSON'S. SOAP & STARCH POLISH. around, 317.BOWERY.N.Y. curves
in front of portrait. Rv. Federal-style eagle, FOUNTAIN. BLACKING BRUSH &
FRENCH BLUEING around, UNITED. STATES. arcs above eagle's head.
C1 Not one cent
This is an unofficial Civil war period token
C2 And a
store token
Support for
an exhibition had been sought in 1886, but with a loss of support and the
British government insisting that an American exhibition not compete with the Colonial and Indian
Exhibition, the
American Exhibition was deferred to 1887.
The American
aim of participating was to display the latest agricultural, mechanical and
textile products and inventions from the United States, but the main attraction was the Wild West show featuring Buffalo Bill, part of Colorado's
contribution
C 4 American exhibition