The Morning Tulsa daily world. [volume] (Tulsa, Okla.) 1919-1927, 1921-08-14
HOU the Bit
Got Its Name

From the Kansas CiD star
with the Philadelphia mint again
coming sllNcr dollars a proposal
under discussion for the coming OF
u 2-rcut picDr aud - propagation
which WAS publicly put forward
some time Hgu that "A ig-rcnt piece
was needed IN trade, II T. intcrostuE
tu recall to old timers If indeed
they have forgotten that several
kinda and denominations Of metallic
money. not met with now, were once
current among us There have even
been ot lntc surEcstlpus That the
United states coin 3. 6 and 7.Ccut
pieces, ana other odd and unusual
coins, because the penny. nickel.
dune and quarter do not Altogether
meet requirements. one does not
have To hc old to recall the hiB cop.
per 2-ccnt piece. two ar three vnri-
ctios NJ 3-cout pieces, the silver half
dimp aud the 2O.,out pieces once In
circulation. There wore also the
large copper pennies, or "oartwhocl'
pennies and the white pennies
that our ErhudfathcrH or great
gtaudtathets used as money
Many persons ar, RiI living in
tho west. and vcty hkclv good
TanN I'm the cast. who remember
were mintcd in the early days OF
california, and the same persons
viii recall that there were gold coins
OF such small denominations ~ %
ana 90 cents These were exceed
inRly inconvcuicnt TO handle aud
uucounthble numbers were lost
/ Then, ~ course, most of us Temem-
hcr the 81 gold pieces. which did not
circulate very well as money in tn"
east, hut which were IN demand as
bangles" by young women. and
were popular form of Eift at
| Christmas and New Years.
People IN the south and east
| spoke of "fips," bits" and "lcvlcs'
az late as the '70s though there were
not then In circulation coins repre-
sonting the denominations which
/ those old pieces Of money stood for.
! In newspaper advertisements your
| grandmother saw goods priced In
| fips and bits and she bought dress
/ goods at levy yard" The
| levy" stood for 12i4 cents and "a
coin called levy" was in circula
/ tion IN Maryland and Virginia In
colonial times. The theory Is that
| tho word came from n contraction
of the name of u coin which was
called an eleven n-ponny-bit." The
coin was not OF American hut of
| Spanish coinage and sometimes II
! circulated under the namo of Il.
real" and at other times was called
a Spanish shilling" Even though
| II was called an eleven penny Bit
| It's value was onc-cighth OF u dollar
| or IL n cents Zip" was "A con
traction OF five pennies and there
was n b-penny coin In circulation In
the colonies.
There has been n great deal OF
controversy over the origin of the
word bit" In the west. Two bits'
meaning quarter" liz still heard
IN the golden and silver west. -Four
bits" IN used to express half a dol
lar" In England and the American
colonies, and In the early years %
the United states English 4-penn!
, pieces and 6p"nny pieces wer
called "four-penny hits" and six
penny-bits," the word "hit" carry
ing the thought that they wor
, pieces OF small money The wester
. word bit seems to refer to n col
/ that was current in the West Indi,
/. and Mexico and which was no doul
X OF Spanish coinage. This "bit
q seems to have been worth 10 CEN
| and to have been succeeded by
% coin current IN Mexico, which wa
I held TO he worth i2k cents /
! United States currency.