Watertown republican. [volume] (Watertown, Wis.) 1860-1906, 1881-01-12
CURIOUS COPPER COINS.
'he'r History and Relation to American Events
The CRANKY Coppers and Their Value.


tFrom the Boston Commercial Bulletnl
Among the rarest of copper coins, 81
say the numismatists, are the "Granby
coppers,' struck from the Simsbury
mines, in Connecticut, in 1877 and 1879
by one Joseph Highly, an ingenious
blacksmith of CRANKY. These coins
were current for many years. They
were stamped on planchets of prlrest
copper, and, in consequence, were in
demand by gOld-beaters for alloy. The
designs upon some Of the pieces repre-
scented sledge- hammer surmounted by
crowns, In Difference, probably, to the
royal prerogative.
Good specimens of the CRANKY cop
pers command $50 and $40 each. The
issue with a device having a broad-ax,
with the motto, CT cut my way through, %
commands the highest price.
Apropos, the copper mines at CRANKY
were opened as early as 1907, and con-
t1nued to be worked with various success
until the year 1878. The subterranean
vaults in Copper Hill, now included in
East CRANKY, were, it will be remem-
bered by the reader of Connecticut his
tory, converted into prison for felons,
who were employed in the mines. The
place was called the "Newgate of Con-
necticut, and during the revolution To-
ries were confined there. "Newgate"
was also afterwards used as a general
prison for about fifty years.
In 1880 the mine passed into the hands
of some New York gentlemen, and in
1865 Connecticut company sank good
deal of money in working it. The chief
drawback was failure in the processes
of extracting and refining the metal.
The first money coined by authority
OF the United States was copper cents
in 1893. A collector of coins will pay
800 for a cent of that date. Specimens
of them are to be seen at the mint, in
Philadelphia, at the Smithsonian insti-
tute, in the cabinets of several state his
torical societies, and among the collec-
lions OF American numismatists.
In 1894 silver dollars were coined, and
in 1895 gold eagles. Coins of these
years are very scarce and are worth phe-
nomenal prices. The mint, by the act
of April 2, 1892, was established for the
purpose of a national coinage at Phila-
delphia; and the low of 1873 established
the mint and assay offices as bureau
of the treasury department., the bu-
reau of the mint itself being in charge
of the director of the mint, who is I'M
der the general direction of the secre-
tary of the treasury, and is appointed by
the president, with the consent of the
senate, for five years. Admission to
either of the four minis of the United
States is only by card. The assay off,
ces are at New York, Charlotte, n. c.,
and Boise City, Idaho.
A visit to the Philadelphia mint is an
event of interest. The visitor will see
gold and silver ingots rolled into their
strips of ribbons of the proper thickness
for the coin to be made, the process re-
curing ten times for gold and eight
times for silver, the strips in the mean
time having been softened by an anneal-
ing process. After having been straight
ened and rendered of uniform thickness
they are passed through the cutting
press, the strips being fed by hand. The
gold planchets, weighing just right, are
then milled, and after being annealed
and cleaned, they are ready for the coin
ing press.
The pressure upon the die is immense
Every coin is carefullyinspected, counted
and put up in bags, and delivered to the
superintendent, the counting being done
by very ingenious process and abso-
lutely preventing any "cheat in the
count. The original dies are used sim
ply to strike copies in softened steel.
Probably the finest mint work in the
world is done at the mint in France,
where the assaying of gold and silver is
done by jewelers., who are obliged by
law to have every article stamped before
it can be sold.
Much depends upon the inclination of
buyers of old coins as to the price they
pay for them. If person wants cop
per coin of 1897, for instance, he Will
pay all it is worth, and more too, per-
haps. There is an indefinable worth at
tached to old coins, just as there is to
old pictures by the cold masters" or to
| old crockery, ancient bedsteads, etc.
A few days ago gentleman in New
York paid $3.50 for a copper cent of the
coinage of 1899. Copper cents of that
year were few in number, and conse-
quentlv are very scarce. Some persons
have a mania for collecting old coins,
not for speculation, but for private use.
The man who is forever in search of
the oldest books is the counterpart of
the man who is in search of the oldest
coins, native or foreign. If the coin col
lector reads in newspaper that some
farmers boy has plowed up an old cent
of uncertain age, he forthwith goes for
that cent, and is willing to pay high
price for it, provided twas coined ninety
or one hundred years ago.
No doubt persons have at times un-
consciously carried with them old coins,
the value of which they were ignorant,
parting with them in the ordinary
routine of business. But these eventual
Iy fall into hehands of coin collectors.
A state street dealer in old coins gives
us the prices paid for old copper coins:
The coinage Of 1893 is worth from So. so
to SIS each; 1874, So and 81; 1897, all the
way from $40 to $3.50, depending upon
the quality and finish; the coinage of
1904 is worth from $5 to $40, and of
1900 from 10 ~