1776 Pewter Continental Dollar NGC MS-65
The First Coin of the Newly United 13 Colonies!
Monumental efforts on the part of truly exceptional men led to the Declaration of Independence in July of 1776. As part of establishing a new and sovereign country, one of the first items to be addressed was the production of coinage. Aside from the obvious purposes of facilitating commerce, official coinage makes a statement to the world that the nation has substance and is a force to be reckoned with.
While still engaging the British in battle on their own turf, the new patriots were also struggling to establish laws and principals by which the newly united former colonies could live with each other and with the world. There was plenty of money circulating at the time; mainly British and Spanish in origin, but the Continental Congress had already authorized the printing of its own paper money which was intended to be an interim measure until coinage could be produced. They were essentially promissory notes which could later be redeemed for coin (“real money”).
The founding fathers had negotiated for a substantial loan of silver bullion from the French in order to create the coinage and while it was believed the metal was on its way, designs were commissioned for the new coinage and “prototype’ coins were created from available metals such as copper, tin (incorrectly referred to as pewter) and a very few in silver.
The designs were similar to those already on the paper money which were heavily influenced by sketches submitted by Benjamin Franklin. The “We Are One” motif surrounded by 13 conjoined links each with the name of one of the United Colonies was employed on the reverse. The obverse featured a sundial and blazing sun which was inspired by the Masonic Lodges to which Franklin and many others belonged and actually dates back to medieval Tarot decks.
For an unfortunate variety of reasons, the anticipated bullion never arrived and all that remains today are the prototypes (sometimes called patterns). Most of these are tin (also called pewter); slightly more than a dozen are brass and a very few are silver.
There are different varieties of each and all are considered rare by any measure or standard. The present piece is one of the finest known and thus is exceedingly rare. There is only 1 coin graded MS65 with one higher (an incredible MS67 by NGC!).
It is obvious that these tremendous artifacts saw extensive circulation and most certainly were accepted in commerce for at least a time. This is truly a precious piece of Americana and deserves a place in the finest of collections or perhaps will someday find a home in a museum amongst other relics of the early days of the United States of America. It’s importance can hardly be overstated!
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