April 2015 – Artifact of the Month
To Artifact of the Month Index
To PAF Home
Coinage Across the Colonies
Prior to the establishment of the United States Mint in Philadelphia in 1792, and with it the standardizing of the nation’s coinage, the production of metal money was the responsibility of each individual colony. The coin depicted here is one of many one cent piece designs that circulated across the young nation toward the end of the eighteenth century. While minted in Connecticut, it was recovered in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania by archaeologists working on a highway reconstruction project along Interstate 95.
The official minting of metal coinage in Connecticut dates back to October 1785, when a handful of individuals petitioned the state for the right to strike legal coppers. Up until this point, counterfeit coinage was ubiquitous across the markets and coffers of the state, and the standardizing of coin production was intended to eliminate the ease with which forgeries were produced. The formation of a one cent piece was also meant to alleviate the scarcity of small change in the state, a condition felt particularly by the working class.
This coin’s particular design was created by Abel Buell of James Jarvis and Company, a preeminent diemaker and inventor who also had part ownership of the company. Dubbed the “Snipe Nose” copper, this piece is very distinctive among colony coins. It contains a pronounced flaw across the coin’s obverse (shown above) that appears to elongate the nose of the bust. This flaw is the result of a break in the striking die.
On the reverse side (shown below), seated Liberty holds an olive branch in her hand with a shield at her side that bears the grapevine symbol of the State of Connecticut. Although this specific coin configuration was only produced as a single series in 1787, all Connecticut coppers generally resembled the British halfpenny. Production of the coppers was stopped in 1788, and the increasingly popular federal fugio cent became the standard.
John Kraljevich Americana’s web page has an unusually fine example of a Connecticut copper ‘snipe nose’ useful for comparison with this archaeologically-recovered specimen.
This Artifact of the Month feature was contributed by Douglas Mooney, Senior Archaeologist, Philadelphia Metro, Design and Consulting Services Group (DCS), AECOM, Burlington, New Jersey 08016
To Artifact of the Month Index
To PAF Home
by admin