1 New England Shilling, Massachusetts, 1652

Description (Brief):

One (1) New England shilling coin

Description (Brief)

Massachusetts, 1652

Description (Brief)

Obverse Image: N/A

Description (Brief)

Obverse Text: NE

Description (Brief)

Reverse Image: N/A

Description (Brief)

Reverse Text: XII

Boston was founded in 1630. Within two decades, it had become a prosperous, thriving community, engaging in legal trade with the mother country and clandestine trade with Spanish America.

Perpetually short of coinage, the proper Bostonians came up with an unorthodox idea: they would take a portion of the silver coming in from the south, melt it down, and make coins from it. Their first efforts were modest. They recast the silver, beat it into thin sheets, then cut more-or-less round blanks from it. The blanks were struck with simple designs, once on each side.

The resulting coins were fairly easy to counterfeit. They were very easy to clip off some of the metal (and a portion of their value would be thereby removed). Embarrassed bureaucrats soon legislated more sophisticated designs that took up all of each side of the coin.

Date Made: 1652

Maker: Massachusetts Bay Colony

Location: Currently not on view

Place Made: United States: Massachusetts

See more items in: Work and Industry: National Numismatic Collection, Coins, Currency and Medals

Exhibition:

Exhibition Location:

Related Web Publication: http://americanhistory.si.edu/coins/glossary.cfm

Related Publication: Feingold, Ellen R.. Value of Money, The, Glossary of Coins and Currency Terms

Credit Line: Emery May Holden Norweb

Data Source: National Museum of American History

Id Number: 1982.0798.0001Accession Number: 1982.0798Catalog Number: 82.48.01

Object Name: coin

Physical Description: silver (overall metal)0 (overall die axis)0 (overall die axis measurement)struck (overall production method)Measurements: overall: .1 cm x 2.8 cm; 1/32 in x 1 3/32 in

Guid: http://n2t.net/ark:/65665/ng49ca746ab-b0ec-704b-e053-15f76fa0b4fa

Record Id: nmah_1076337

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