The globe-independent. (Hagerstown, Md.) 1943-19??, 1950-04-13
HORSE AND
BUGGY DAYS


people living who remember the
great variety of coins that were used
in the early days of our history.
There were Spanish coins, money
from Britain, France and even
Abraham coins.
Most of us recall the days when
all United States gold coins were
recalled. 1t was made illegal for
anyone to keep money of this kind.
But 1 know where there is some. 1t
is in a one-acre orchard west of
town, along the Broadfording road,
right where it was lost by a young
fellow named Ely. And it will stay
right there in defiance of the Fed
eral law, for the old one dollar gold
pieces are very, very small, com
pared to an acre of ground, and it
took only a small hole in the sweater
pocket to let that Dollar slip through.
Most of us have seen old coin col
lections. A good many of,them are
Just earlier issues of our present
coins. There are the thick pennies,
the big" pennies, and the copper
pennies about the size of our pres
ent quarter. And there were half
dimes, of silver, and half pennies.
None of these are found in circula
ton, but occasionally one finds the
famous Indian Head Penny" My
best find from coins in trade was a
v nickel, minted in 1883, without the
word Scents" and I am told that'l
these nickels were Immediately
snatched up by counterfeiters, coat
ed with gold and passed for five
dollar pieces. No doubt, too, many
collections contain some of the coins
that were in use before this Coun-
try began to make her own.
Back in the days before and af-
ter the Revolution, we find that
right here in this valley people COM
monty used many of these foreign
coins: the British pound, shilling,
and pence; the Spanish pieces of
eight which were once the most
commonly used and were worth in
the times just after the setting up of
our own money, approximately ST.
05. A fortune, in supposedly this
type of coin, is hid somewhere in
the mountains north of Clear Spring.
There were also English and French
crowns, English and French guineas,
doubloons worth $3.50, Spanish and
French pistoles, Arabian chequins
worth $2.1212. And the Johannes,
commonly called the "Joe," were
worth about $18, and the Half-Joe
and Moidores, $6,75.
If we stop and think about one
part of the history of this section,
we will see why there were so many
coins and denominations of money.
Remember that there were thousands
of laborers, from many parts Of
Europe, brought here to work on
the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal, and
it was because of this that we find
many of these monies mentioned in
official Maryland records in con-
nection with the fixing of the values
by the Legislature in the charter of
the old Potomac Company, the com
pany that preceded the Chesapeake
and Ohio Canal Company and real
ly pioneered the project of naviga-
ton on and along the Potomac Riv-
er.
It is very interesting point of
history that for nearly twenty years
after this Country did establish her
own system of currency, most of the
people, and even court records, went
right on using the old systems, most
ly the pound, shilling and pence.
Our monetary system was establish
ed at the time the Federal Consti-
tuition was adopted Now right here
I would like to wager that you can
not name the date of the adoption
of our Constitution Before read
ing the next several lines, make a
try at the date. No, it was not 1776
After the signing of the Declaration
of Independence, on July 4, 1776,
there was period of time of thir-
teen years till the Constitution was
adopted in the year 1889. And it
was at this time that our Country
also founded her own system of
money.
According to an official United
States publication, the first coins
made in America were minted in
Philadelphia, in 1872 They were
half dimes, made from household
silver sent from Mount Vernon by
Martha Washington. This initial
issue of coins was never released
to the public, but was presented, in
a special ceremony, to the first Pres
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