The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1894-08-12
ODD SPANISH COINS.
Recollections of the clips" ''Levies"
and 'Picayunes" of Early Louisiana

From the New Orleans Picayune.

Recollections OF the "Etps, h" "Levteso
and ''Picayunes" of Early Louisiana
Days.
From the New Orleans Picayune
mo one born in this generation in this
country knows anything about the old
time fps and levies that constituted a
large portion of the subsidiary coin in cir
culation as late as the breaking out of the
civil war" said Col. G. A. Pine of the
Port Jervis Gazette, who remembers
| everything. These were Spanish coins.
and they got into circulation in this coun-
try through some pecuniary settlement
between the governments of the United
States and Spain.
Fifty years ago very few silver coins
from our mint were in circulatio espe-
cially the smaller ones. A few half-dol-
lars and dollars were in use, The Span
ish small coins were essentially the peo-
pies money in those days.
The ftp represented the one-sixteenth
of dollar, the levy one-eighth Of a dol
lar. Flip was the abbreviation of FIVE
pennybit. When people spoke out the
whole of what they meant in talking of a
tive-penny-bit they called it a fppenny-
bit, but Just ip was sufficient for ordinary,
everyday transactions. Similarly, folks
didn't often say eleven-penny- They
contracted it to levy. That is, except in
New York state, Northeastern Pennsyl-
vania and Northern New Jersey, and in
/ New England, where they had no use for
either eleven-penuy-bit or levy. In those
localities the levy was shilling.
But in Southern New Jersey, South
ern Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland,
and other border states, if you said shil-
ling people wouldn't know what you
meant. They called it levy. Further
south levy became bit, and the ftp
was picayune. This was especially the
case 1t and about New Orleans, and this
nomenclature was carried up the Misss-
sippi river by the popular means of COM
munication in those days, the steam boat,
TO Rock Island, Dubuque, Galena, St. Paul
and other river points.
I'm the same way the terms were car
ried from New Orleans up the Missouri
river as fast as the white people had
pushed their way, up the Ohio to Louis
vile and above, and even up the Illinois
river TO Peoria and Peru, and they took
root in California when the Pacific coast
was settled by people from the east In
the west it was easy to tell from what
part of the country man had emigrated
according to the way he handled the
names of the coins. If be said levy he
was sure not 10 be from the New Eng
Jersey or Northern Pennsylvania
THESE Spanish coins must have been
circulated,many years, for they were gen
orally worn very smooth. Some of them
were so smooth, in fact, that they would
not pass current. The rule was that if
the pillars on them could be plainly seen
the coins were all right have seen fps
that were so smooth aAd thin that thew
resem bed nothing more closely than a
shad scale, and levies that had been so
long in use that they were like smooth
circles.
lin some parts Of the country, notably
In the southwest the fps and levies were
rated equal with scent and lO-cent.
pieces, but in the east, and particularly
IN philadelphia and the Quaker country
about IL. the people wouldn't have IL that
way. They insisted that eight levies
made dollar, while it required ten 10
cent pieces 10 make dollar. Hence, If
the recognition on a par with the dime.
the frugal Philadelphia argued that he
was out Is cents on every deal Of that
kind. Then, again, 25-cent pieces had To
be got together before a man had a dol
lar, whereas he only had 70 accumulate
sixteen nps 10 have the same amount.
This was because the levy was valued al
IN cents and the ftp at 6k cents. The
same rule existed among those who called
the levy shilling
Down south. however, there was more
hexibility in the rule Of value OF these