Nashville union and American. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1868-1875, 1872-10-13

l. ace. of copper was made on this soil, and a
| voice was heard from old Gonhecticut, the
I first State Of the original thirteen to at
| tract the attention of the colonists to cur
rency made here, expressing something In
| dependent of King George and the King
i Georges. John .Higley, of CRANKY, a
Il blacksmith by trade Gone authority trans
| forms him into an NJ. D.; we apprehend
that be showed a greater proclivity fol edge
| tools than Materia Medical, manufactured
several dies and struck three distinct vsrie-
| ties of coppers, expressing his sentiments
upon their faces, which were anything but
| dependence upon monarchical rule and
| mild submission to British oppression. The
same wear coin was issued, the die being
gotten up and cut by the distinguished me-
chanic, patriot and gentleman, Paul Revere,
| designed for currency known as TIE janus
| copper, the device being head with in
! yerted faces, the legend, State of Massa; re-
verse, the Goddess of Liberty seated on
globe, holding in her right hand the liberty
| role, and in the LEFT the scales, emblematic
| of Justice, Cat this present time one speci-
men only of this coin is In existence). Jan
us, the son of Apollo, went to Italy, where
/ be planted a colony and founded town
named Janiculum. He is represented
with two faces, because, by the ancients, he
was believed to know all the past and reveal
everything in regard to the future. He was
regarded by the Romans as sgod, worship
ped as such, and had temple erected in
| his name. Janus upon an American coin
invites speculation. As representing the
Wing and Tory parties, it was truthful, for
they looked different ways. In the year
I785 appeared the Nova Constellatio series,
the device being an eye, symbelica Of pSu-
prene power, rejecting its rays upon thir-
teen Six pointed stars. There were several
varieties Of this issue, the rarest being the
Immune Colombia Gree America). In
1888 j. Chalmers, of Annapolis, Maryland,
issued shilings aud sixpences as an indi-
vidual speculation. In the same year the
Washington cents appeared, also an indi-
vidual matter, the metal being poor, the
varieties being the Unity States, the Uni
ted States, and the double Head cent. In
the year 17S5 Vermont and Connecticut,
by proper authority, issued copper pennies,
those Of the former State being the Yer
mon, Vermonten Simm, Vermonts, Yer
months, and the Tory Cent Of King George.
In Connecticut over one hundred kinds
| OF coppers were issued, of various types.
| This coinage was discontinued in both
States in 1888. In Massachusetts, cents
very beautiful In design were issued In
| 1857 and 1888, and here appeared the half
cent for the first time. New York and
| New Jersey also issued various coppers.
Old Ben. Franklin tried his hand &C this
business, and in 1887 cooked up hodge
podge of copper, not adopted as cur
rency, but suggestive; first, the shiningsun,
with dial, pointers, ETC., Fugio Il fy), in
dicating the passage of the hours, and of
time and-the transfer from hand to hand
of the coin ITSELF on The reverse, Mind
Your Business, good advice then and now
also: an inseparable- chain Of = links
with States united, We Are One.
In 1871 appeared marked improvement.
| The coppers known as the large and small
Wsshingtons appeared bearing a strikingly
beautiful head Of Washington. These spe-
cimens were freely circulated, but did not
reach distant points readily. In the year
| 1850, Spain contributed the Florida piece
to our currency and in 1863 appeared the
cent known as the Pitt piece. The country
was indebted to Col. Paul Revere who orig
mated and designated it, as q tribute Of
patriotism to the Restorer of Commerce and
the .'No Stamps" advocate, William Pitt.
| While this medalet was composed of an
inferior quality of metal as an emblem of
| gratitude to Mr.. Pitt, it possessed all the
| value that the pltreSt gold could have con-
ferred upon it. The night after the pas
sage of the 'Stamp Act" DR.. Franklin, then
in London, wrote to Charles Thompson,
ssEhe sun of liberty is set; you must light
| up the candles of industry and economy
| Mr.. Thompson replied, "Be assured we
shall light no torches Of quite another sort"
| 1t was the stamp act that filed Patrick
Henry with the patriotic fire which lead
him TO assert in the Virginia House of Bur
gesses that the King had acted the part of q
tyrant, and alluding to the fate of other
| tyrants, be exclaimed caesar had his Bra-
| tus, Charles l. bis CromHell, and George
| UI."-he was interrupted by the CRY of
treason" -psusing for moment, he de-
liberately cencluded-'nldy profit BIZ their
| eIGnplel If this be treason, make the
most of it," The next coin that appeared
| was in 1867, issued in France for the Louis
lana colonies, being gift by royal favor for
/ which the poor coionists were exceedingly
thankful. In 1773 and 1774 very beauti-
full coins were furnished by the English
government, for Virginia, struck both in
silver and copper. Z.
The first national coinage appeared in
in the year 1893. The year previous the
Washington HalfD isme was used. A fine
representation of Martha Washington, q
dove, and other emblems of peace. The
types of the American cent were the Alneri,
i the Liberty.Cap, the links and the leaf, with
representation rs of Liberty-Head. In 1874
the Liberty Gap wal adopted, and by the
| e 1oA 10 81 Ill 81
cents, the planchet being thick, perfect and
round, the metal being hard and durable
In the early part of 1895, we hear agair
from Paul Revere, who designed an exqui
site type of cent, with fine head Of def
ferson, a compliment TO that great mau
The natural supposition with regard tt
this piece is that Jefferson himself disap.
proved Of it, lust as Washington bad preVi
ously done. The issue came back to the
mint rapidly and not over dozen of these
pieces are probably now in existence. The
finest specimen known changed hands {
few weeks since, 500 being paid for it, anc
Vanderbilt with his princely fortune can
not duplicate the piece. The type known
as The nllet hea was adopted in 1896, ant
that year the Li0arty-Cap was dispensed
with. In the year 1903 the Bull Head cen
appeared, and the following year was very
much improved in gen raj appearance. Ii
1915 no cents were coined. The following
year the plain head was adopted, and NJ
important changes were made uRtil 1855
when experimental piec s s ruck in nickl
OF smaller size were used. The frs
silver dollar was coined IN 1874, the hal
dime the same year, the Quarter and Dim
r in 1895, the silver three cent piece in 1851
} and the three dollar gold piece in 1854
Hafcents have not been coined since 1857
, Among the gold coins, not authorized b.
the United States, noticed collection o
| those issued by the Mormons, but as speci
: mems Of the art they are vastly inferior t
} those coined at the Mint.
ANCIENT AND FOREIGN COINS.
; In addition to the American coins, ther
: may be seen here remarkably full collee
ton those issued by all the nation
| of the world, running back twent!
: centuries, or about seven hundred year.
7 before the birth of Christ, embracing some
t OF the Oldest coins known to exist. Th
g oldest gold coin known to be preserved a
r this day, was struck about five hundre
!. years before Christ, and a specimen of thi
d rare coin is to be seen here. There ar
L some coins of other metal, specimens /,
e which are to be seen here, that were struc
8 two hundred years before this gold coir
| What a history is -anDnactod with fhna