German Inscriptions in Book Illustration

Before someone goes off track and chases a red-herring, be aware that the coin pictured in Allgemeines does not exist. That fact is made in the text, on page 180:

"Damit die Innschriften gleign volle Wirs fung thun mochten, sind fie, zum Behuf des Deutschen Lesers, übersetzt eingetragen."

That means:

"In order that the inscriptions might have full effect, they are, for the sake of the German reader, translated."

If I were researching this, I would not look to London. I have a hard time accepting the fact that anything such as this would be possible in London while we were in the middle of ourRevolutionary War with England and also given the fact that all communication was by boat.

26 May 1783 Letter to Franklin
Also, there is the involvement of Benjamin Franklin, who was living just outside Paris during this time. Now, add in the fact that the publishers of Allgemeines wrote to Franklin while helived in Paris asking him for illustrations of medals for that book and they then illustrated the Libertas Medal and the Continental Dollar. That's too much of a coincidence to simply ignore.

To read the complete letter, see:
From Charles Spener (unpublished) Berlin ce 26. May 1783.(http://www.franklinpapers.org/franklin//yale?d=662251423&vol=39&page=533)

Sarah Banks Catalogue Advertisement

I'm a little surprised that no one has yet mentioned the paper by Catherine Eagleton published in The Numismatic Chronicle for 2014, "Collecting America: Sarah Sophia Banks and the'Continental Dollar' of 1776," pp. 293-301. Ms. Eagleton argues "that the piece may never have been intended as a coin at all, not struck in America, or even made in 1776."

She bases her conclusion on the catalog of the Sarah Sophia Banks collection, now in the British Museum: in the 1815 version of this catalog, following the entry for "Congress Dollar. 1776.never current, struck on speculation in Europe, for sale in America" appears an advertisement pasted in the catalog after the entry:

Ms. Eagleton did not have the benefit of Eric P. Newman and Maureen Levine's article "18th-Century Writings on the Continental Currency Dollar Coin," The Numismatist July2014, pp. 34-57, because she mentions "contemporary references confirming that the Continental Dollar was made before 1786" (p. 299). In fact, as Eric and Maureen have pointed out,crediting me for the discovery, the Continental Dollar was mentioned in a poem published in New York November 6, 1779 and illustrated as early as 1784.

The advertisement is new to me, however. My own opinion (as of now) is that the Continental Dollars were originally coined in 1776-78 as speculative patterns in the hope of obtaining a coinagecontract, but the effort died, the Continental Congress never going so far as even to appoint a committee to study the matter. But it has always seemed as though there are too many of them around inuncirculated condition for this purpose, and it would now appear that some dies were taken to England after the Revolution (the Continental Dollar is listed in a catalog of the Banks collection made"in or before 1790") and copies restruck there.

(Note: the omission of the dollar denomination from the paper money emission of July 22, 1776, continuing to January 14, 1779, is NOT evidence that the Continental Dollar was intended to fill thegap; there was already a dollar coin in circulation, the Spanish Milled Dollar.)

It seems clear to me that at least SOME "1776" Continental Dollars were struck in London in 1783; this fits well with Du Simitiere's statement and the first illustration in 1783,plus the Banks Collection example.

Rivington's Gazette Poem, Nov. 6, 1779

Congress will nobly pay him for his pains,
Of pewter dollars what both hands can hold;
A thimble full of plate, a mite of gold;
The lands of some big Tory he shall get,
And strut a famous col'nel en brevet,
And last to honor him, (we scorn to bribe,)
We'll make him chief of the Oneida tribe.

Tom Wetter adds:

The Congratulation (http://www.historycarper.com/1779/11/06/the-congratulation/)

1. Du Simitiere wrote, in 1783 or 1784, that the Continental Dollar was "Struckt in London on Type-Metal, and dated 1776." (Orosz, pp. 26-7)

2. The earliest illustration of a Continental Dollar appears IN EUROPE in late 1783.

3. The Sarah Sophia Banks collection of London contained thousands of coins by 1791. Circa 1815, her Continental Dollar was cataloged as "Congress Dollar. 1776. never current, struck onspeculation in Europe, for sale in America." An accompanying ad offers them for sixpence each, adding "The Date, 1776, is the time they declared Independency. The Letters E. G. Fecit,its makers Name."

4. No record authorizing it has been found in the papers of the Continental Congress for 1776.

5. In Boston, the January 1, 1789 issue of the Independent Chronicle and the Universal Advertiser denied that there ever was such a coin as the Continental Dollar. Likewise, on February 21,1790, Paul Revere wrote, "as for pewter money struck in America, I never saw any, and I have made carefull (sic) inquiry" (both citations from Newman and Levine, p. 50).

Were this any other coin, we would have no hesitation in attributing it to European speculators in 1783, a time when a U.S. coinage was being seriously considered (the Nova Constellatio copperswere issued that year).

Against this attribution is the reference in the satirical 1779 poem to Congress paying "pewter dollars," but perhaps this should not be taken literally.

Also, in 1911, Gallaudet family historian Edward Miner Gallaudet informed a relative that EG FECIT stood for 18th-century New York engraver Elisha Gallaudet (Newman and Levine pp. 51-2). WhileElisha Gallaudet is chronologically possible for 1783 as well as 1776, and the Continental Dollar dies COULD have been engraved in New York for striking in London, he offered no evidence and thiscould merely be wishful thinking. Engravers with the initials E G should be looked for in England.

To read the earlier E-Sylum articles, see:
ON THE ORIGIN OF THE CONTINENTAL DOLLAR (http://www.coinbooks.org/esylum_v15n44a11.html)
ON THE ORIGINS OF THE CONTINENTAL DOLLAR (http://www.coinbooks.org/v20/esylum_v20n40a13.html)
NOTES ON THE ORIGINS OF THE CONTINENTAL DOLLAR (http://www.coinbooks.org/v20/esylum_v20n41a16.html)