The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1893-06-25
next "thaler.r a nama which. by nlterine

through the Dutch. "daalder" became tn
English dollar. They were of AL grains Tro
weight, and tho mint master Of Count Schlic
was under orders always to keen them nj tn
same weight and nneness. The result wa
thatthey circulated freely everywhere. and wer
always taken at the same value. The Empcro
Charles ". observing the stability OF value com
manded nv the Joachi q sthal coin. and Iesrin,
10 have something which would "a readily pas
throughout his widespread dominions ordered
eight silver reals to 30 coined in ono piece con
tanning 400 grains Of flne silver. In allusion [,
tho design OF the pillars OF Hercules and ,
scroll upon thom those pieces OF eight o
Charles V. were callni in Spain c5,onntas
and In tho English colonies "p.iiar dollars
AS thcy were first coined at tho min
OF Seville, they also wont 10y tho pamt
oi Seville pieces Of cisat" Later. they wcyc
known by the appclatior o! "fniIlpd picrrs " %,
spanish miIcd dollars" when tn, Neither
lands threw or the yoke II Spanish to;nln.
ion. they set to coming II dollar of les.
value, with tho onlEy " lion upon it. hence
| called tho lion dollar An assay marln in
I'll" middle Of tho last century gayo To- those
| Dutch lion dollars 22G grains OF fine silver
| These coins found their way to Constitutional,
| thence to the Rod Sea and Mada,S "a scar, md
eventually 10 Now York. We have said that
when Charles V. coined pieces Of eight. the
Two pillars Of Hercules and scroll formin.
the letter wc"o Placed upon them. The pill
lars and the scroll formed the sign s and this
soon became tho written sign for the piece Of
! eight. which aftorward became the United
| States dollar.
1n process Of time the pieces OF eight. which
nro met with under various names. caused the
| English masters Of New York as much tro I, lie
| rs the native grown and nanufn tulcd WAN
pun had caused tho Dutch. in 1873 Gov
Andres proposed o the Duke OF York to stamp
on pieces OF eight the value in shllings at
which he desired them to pass current. But
the proposal was discountenanced by his
snperiors. who. In 1902. inherited in the in
structions given to Gov. Fletcher clause per-
emptorily forbiddng ANY alteration in the
value OF the current coin. either foreign or be-
longing to any Of our dominlons." About this
time the old names for money values inherit
ed from the Dutch settlers. such as Carolus
guilders. guilders. and stivers began to give
place In New York city to tho English pounds
shillinGs. and pence. Toward the end OF the CEN
tury. the trade carried on by New York mer-
chants with the Madagascar pirates brought q
new visitor In the shape OF Arabian gold coin
Illegal though this commerce was, It made
money plentiful. as is shown by some extracts
from letter Of Gov. Bellomont to the Commits
sioners for Trade and Plantation. Thus in
loG', ne writes: Capt Giles Shelley who
lately came from Madagascar with fifty or
sixty pirates. has SO flushed them at New York
with Arabian gold and East India goods that
they set the Government at defiance" When
the Government ensures to suppress piracy
proved effective and thereby cut Off tho influx
OF Arabian gold. Lord Bellomont turned his
attention to the currency in the prov
ince OF New York and compared Its value
with that OF tho same circulating media in
other colonies. He inquired Of Nicolas Neers,
master OF a vessel trading with South Carolina,
about the value OF money there. and learned
that Dog dollars. Rix dollars. Seville, Pillar,
and Mexico pieces Of eight had a currency
there. but that 1t was 10 per cent. worse than in
New York. while New York currency was 80
per cent. worse than sterling. so that by that
rule the money in Carolina must be 40 per cent
worse than sterling" In 1903 Lord Cornbury
complained that "a piece Of eight weighing
seventeen pennyweight goes for shillings Cd.
In this place New York., but at Philadelphia it
goes for Z shillings 3d., so that no heavy money
Is to be found here" Attempts were made by
royal proclamation issued in 1904 and by
subsequent acts OF colonial legislation to |
give pieces Of eight uniform value
throughout the colony. but all such endeavors
were in vain. What was meant by the dog
dollar" above referred to. Is not explained by |
any encyclopedias. dictionary. or manual Of
coin collectors. Mr.. Fernow believes it to have |
been crown or ten-shilling piece OF 462 |
grains In weight and S1.2O In value. coined by
the Dutch province Of Cumberland for their
trade to the East. The lion rampant on the re-
verso was SO badly executed that the Arabs OF |
the Red Sea. into whose hands it came. mis- |
took the lion for dog. and called the piece |
dog dollar. When brought to New York. 1t was
ultimately made current as n lion dollar.
Many readers will remember the time when
copper coins were rarely seen west OF the Mis-
sssippi. and almost never In California This
was only q repetition OF the conditions under
which the early settlers Of New York suf-
fered. In letter to the Lords Of Trade. in
17l5. Gov. Hunter wrote There Is ono
hardship which have observed ever since I
came to this country. which falls chiefly
upon the poorer sort-that Is. that there being
no currency but of silver and Of bills Of credit.
the smallest Of which is two shilings. they
have not the relief from ordinary markets as
In other places" 1t was seven years after this
that William Wood received from tho British
the privilege Of coming copper
ha pence. pence, and tn pence. as tokens to be
used MS currency In Ireland and America.
Owing to the opposition organized by Dean
Swift. the privilege for ireland was recalled in
1925. but Wood was allowed to send tokens to
he American colonies Thenceforth copper
coins poured into New York in such quanti-
les that. in 1888. law was enacted making it
, felony to bring into the colony more than
.en shilings In copper money at once Wood
struck for the American colonies the copper
pieces known as the Rosa Americana" but
he latest issue OF this coin bears tho date OF
1888 There are extant specimens Of a So
,nlled New York token In lead. brass. and tin
which. under rudely engraved heraldic eagle.
bear the legend. New Yorke In America"
Mr. Fernow believes this coin to have been
struck In Holland between 100 and 1905 for
In New York, hut he does not think it
vas ever minted In any considerable quantity.
We find new metal currency called
plate" mentioned IN ITO In an act Of the
Jew York Assembly. providing for the ex-
,enses OF Gov. Hunter. For the explanation
Il this name we must go back to the expedi-
ion of Cortsz and Pizzaro. The Spanish con-
uerors found themselves overloaded with sill
er spoil which the state refused to coin at any
Al, A, tee hn1l inn nj ma Rail IA fhnp |