George III farthings Público Deposited
- From jmkleeberg@yahoo.com Wed Jul 04 20:37:48 2001
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Date: Thu, 05 Jul 2001 03:37:41 -0000
To: colonial-coins@yahoogroups.com
Subject: George III farthings
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From: jmkleeberg@yahoo.com
Farthings definitely did circulate - but it becomes tricky when you
add the phrase "George III." There was a huge load on the Mermaid -
that accounts for the 1749 halfpence that are common in superb
condition - but those coins were George II. I haven't come across
any references to finds of George III farthings - although my
references mostly document hoards, and farthings should turn up as
single finds. If you drop a joe and it rolls in an awkward corner,
you will turn over your entire house until you get it. You won't do
that for a farthing. I'd be interested to know if the metal
detectionists have been finding many George III farthings, and what
the proportion is vis-a-vis the George II farthings. I believe that
those George III farthings are out there (although they were never as
vast a part of the circulation as the halfpence were), and that when
Boston minted Massachusetts half cents, and Philadelphia US half
cents, they were producing a decimal coin designed to supplement
and/or replace the farthings already in circulation. The half cents
also helped tie together the US decimal system with the Spanish
American octal system, in case you had to make change for a real (12
and a half cents).
John Kleeberg - 2001-07-04
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