Evening journal. [volume] (Wilmington, Del.) 1888-1932, 1898-09-22
OLD TIME Tps AND LEvrEs.

money OF Spain was the peoples |
money; in fact, Spanish coin consti-
tuted a large portion Of the subsidiary |
coin circulation in this country as late
as the breaking out Of the civil war.
This Spanish coin got into circulation
in this country through some early pc
cuniary transactions between the
United States and Spain, and for more
than a generation it was commoner
than our own. 1t included the fps
and the 'levies' OF -bellum days.
Fifty years ago very few silver
coins from our own minis were in cir
eulation, particularly the smaller ones.
A few dollars and half dQ,cars were In
USE The Spanish coins must have been
circulated a good many years, for they
were generally worn very smooth. Some
OF them were so smooth, in fact, thar
they would not pass current. The rule
was that il the pillars on them could
be plainly seen the coins were all
right. l have seen fps that were so
smooth and thin that they resembied
nothing more closely than shad scales,
and levles that had been so long in use
that they were like smooth disks But
those Old Spanish coins, worn as they
might be, contained more pure silver
than the most of our coins, and one OF
them would be a curiosity to-day.
"The ftp represented one-sixteenth OF
a dollar, the levy one-eighth Of a dol
lar. Flip was the abbrevlation OF an
abbreyiation of fve-penny-bit. when
people spoke out the whole OF what
they meant in talking OF a dve-penny-
bit they called it a fppenny-bit, but
just ftp was sufficient for ordinary,
every day transactions. Levy was the
convenient contraction of eleven-penny-
bit. This nomenclature for the Span
lsh coins was used generally except
in Now York States, northern and
northeastern Pennsylvania, northern
New jersey and New England. In those
localities the people had no use for the
eleven-pcnny-bi or levy nor for tho
ftp or hppenny-blt or fve-penny bit.
They called the one a shilling and the
other a sixpence, and our own little sil-
yer three-cent piece was Gzthrlppence.
But in southern New Jersey, southern
Pennsylvania. Delaware and Maryland
and other border states II one said
shilling people wouldn't know what he
meant. With them Il was levy. Fur
Their South a levy became bit, and the
ftp a picayune.
This was especially the case at and
about New Orleans, and this nomencla-
ture was carried up the Mississippi
river by the popular means OF commu.
nication in those days the steamboat
to Rock Island, Dubuque, Galena, s,
E Paul and other river points. In th,
same way the terms were carried frCr
New Orleans up the Mississippi river "a.
far ais the white people mad pushed
th.ir way, up the Ohio to LouisviG
and above, even up the Illinois river 10
Peoria and Peru, and they took root in
California when the Pacific coast wal
settled by people from the East. In ths
West it was easy to tell from what part
Of the country a man had smigrated
according to the way he handled the
names of the coins. If he said levy
= and ftp he was sure not to be from tn.
New England States, New York, north
ern New Jersey or the New York Dor.
der counties.
''In some parts OF the country, no
tably in the Southwest, our 5 and 10
cent silver pieces were rated equal witt
! the Spanish fps and levies, but in thi
East, and particularly in Philadelphia
E and the Quaker country about 1t, tn
people wouldn't recognize such a rat
, ing. They insisted that it required onl.
eight Spanish ,evies to make a dollar
while you had to get ten American
dimes before you had a dollar. Hence
- IL we should recognize the dime on 3,
parity with a levy, the frugal Phila
delphian argued that he would be on
4 just two lsvies, or 25 cents. en- ever.
{ deal Of that kind Then, again, 1t re
! quired twenty scent pieces or hal
! dimes TO make a dollar, whereas a per
son had to accumulate only sixteel
- fps to have the same amount OF money
D This was because the levy's valuation
f, was 1914 cents and the fps ca cents
The same rule existed among those VIII
called the levy a shilling.
] Those old Spanish coins were pen
. tiful up to the breaking out Of thu war
j but disappeared suddenly and entirel!
with the war. No one knows what be
, came Of them. with the war also
the nomc nc,ature that came with thu
Spanish coins disappeared. except II
rural New England and the New Yorl
S and Pennsylvania border counties
;, where the old-timers still cling to th
E shilling. the sixpence and the "Trip
: pence. New York Sun.