The record-union., 1898-05-06
CoLLoQUIAL NAMES OF COINS
Ahey Differ According to the Sec
tiOn OF the Country.

heIerrlng to the word "picavune If
may not be uninterestine to give
sKetch of subsidiary coinage and cur-
rency as used in the past and the vari-
Jus names under which it was known.
IN Ohlo in 1914 and previously there
was good deal of foreign coin in cir
culatlon, mostly Spanish. with some of
the ola State coinage of different States
occasionally making it's appearance.
one OF the most plentiful of these for
elgn coins was piece which passed
current for GA cents. In Ohio this was
known as fipenny bit. a contraction.
PROBABLY, of fivepenny bit The half
olnes of American coinage were also
becoming frequent at that time and as
distinction between the half-dime and
the hpenny bit the former was contract
eu 10 the word ftp" The dime went
under its lawful name, while the old
Spanish double of the fipenny bit was
known as the bit" and the Snanisb
and Mexican quarter-dolars were near
~ always referred to as two bits" The
latter term, l think, still obtains in
reference to Quarter-dollar American
pieces IN some sections There was also
New York State ''two-bit" coin. as
well as a bit" of the same coinage.
Whlc was sometimes called the York
shllllng- The Pine Tree State shil-
ling, coming from Maine, was some
times seen, but not much used It's val
lie was supposed to be IS 2-3 cents
The old-fashioned big copper cent Of
American coinage was plentiful, while
occasionally an English halfpenny of
copper was found. floating around, gen
orally passing on the same basis as
the American copper cent Queen Vic
toria's head was then shown on the
English halfpennies
Later, when, as boy, I removed with
my mother to Illinois, I met my first
stumbling block in money names. There
the fipenny bit was the picayune, While
the ftp had its proper name of half
dime, or five cents. But the larger
coins retained the old names, as did the
copper cents. AS near as / can learn,
the term picayune originated with the
French, who had settled ST. Louis and
had settlements at points all the way
from New Orleans to ST. Louis and the
further Northwest, and their names for
money predominated in that region.
Still later, when I had strayed away
to New York State, I again encountered
new names for money. There every
thing was based on the Shilling"
which represented II cents. A quarter
of a dollar was always two shillings,"
and all sums under 500 We're calculat-
ed on the same basis. When l asked
the price of board l was told it ranged
from 16 to 30 shillings a week. The
price Of a suit of clothes was generally
stated in shilings. That was all right
for the natives. but | confess / had fire.
quently to brush up my arithmetic TO
get at what SO shillings, % shillngs, II
shillings, or some other high number,
amounted to. It was all clear enough
when it was two. four or six shillings,
but when it got above the dollar it re-
quired some "ciphering" on the part Of
a stranger to get correct results.
The three-cent piece, originally coined
in silver, came into general circulation
in the North about 1850, and was later
made in nickel, being coined in that
metal about the same time as the pres
ent nickel five-cent piece.
Some time before the civil war the
old-fashioned copper cent was replaced
at the mint with the present small cop
per cents and the two-cent pieces. Later
the first nickels were made but almost
went out of circulation during the war
and were succeeded by the fractional
currency of that day, issued in ., 10, %
and 5O-cent bills. These We're never
very popular with the masses, and were
looked upon by the Government as
temporary expedient. The most popular
designation of them was "shinplaster,"
though in Memphis and some other
parts of the country they were referred
to as chicken feed. Galveston News.