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Jefferson proposed the dollar as the monetary unit – considering the widespread acceptance of the Spanish milled dollar – to be divided into tenths (dimes) and hundredths (cents).
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Thomas Jefferson of the Confederation's monetary committee believed the mill was too small in value. The Morris plan could be used to convert foreign coins including Spanish milled dollars that held different value in the different states. Robert Morris, Superintendent of Finance for the Confederation, submitted a plan to Congress in 1782 proposing a decimal-based coinage system based on a unit called a mill.
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Several private issues of copper tokens as well as experimental coins for the Confederation were also minted from 1785-1787. Chalmers minted threepence, sixpence and shilling tokens all in silver.
#What are us coins made of series
These old coins included a series of "tokens" (privately issued coins that circulated in public commerce) struck by silversmith John Chalmers of Maryland in 1783. Mint in 1792, a variety of early American coins were issued by private minters and individual states. Confederation-era coinage of 1783-1792įrom the end of the Revolutionary War in 1783, until the establishment of the U.S. This foreign gold and silver coinage remained legal tender in the United States until 1857. In 1793, Congress demonetized all foreign coinage except gold coins of Great Britain, Portugal, France and Spain – and silver coins of France and Spain. More than two dozen Spanish colonial mints in Mexico and South America struck large quantities of "Spanish milled dollars" – valued at 8 reales and often called "Pieces of Eight." Struck from silver unearthed or stolen in Spanish America, these 8 reales coins along with fractional ½, 1, 2 and 4 reales counterparts became the principal coins of the American colonists, and were the forerunners of the U.S. Spanish-American coinage became widely used in the English colonies. While the American colonies accepted old coins from various countries when available, most British and European pieces went back to their issuing countries as payment for goods and services. Spanish 8 reales, also known as "Pieces of Eight" However, these proposals were not well conceived and none were implemented. Plans to replace depressed colonial paper currency with coins were proposed for Massachusetts in 1715, for Connecticut in 1739, and for all the English colonies in 1748. These coppers featured various inscriptions including VALUE ME AS YOU PLEASE and I AM GOOD COPPER. Other early American coins included Higley Coppers, struck in 17, and named for Samuel Higley, who mined copper on his Connecticut land and had the metallurgical skills to create steel dies for coinage. (Please see America's First Coinage to learn more about Massachusetts Bay Colony coins.) But like the Willow Tree coinage, all Oak Tree and Pine Tree issues are dated 1652 (except for Oak Tree 2 pence coins, which bear 1662 dates). After the Massachusetts mint switched from hammer striking to the rocker press, new Oak Tree coinage was produced from 1660-1667 and Pine Tree coinage from 1667-1682. Though struck until about 1660, all the coins bear the date 1652. The Willow Tree Threepence displayed a tree in the center of the obverse, with rings of beads containing the inscription MASATHVSETS IN.
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The simplicity invited clipping (cutting off pieces of the coins for the silver), and after a few months, these coins were replaced with more elaborate designs. These simple silver coins were punch-stamped with the letters "NE" on the obverse and the denomination in pence on the reverse ("III" or "VI" or "XII"). The first old coins struck in the English-American colonies were the "NE" or "New England" coins authorized in 1652 by the Massachusetts General Court.