The earliest
American money was that used by the Mound Builders and Indians.
The Mound Builders used money made of lignite, coal, bone, shell,
terra cotta, mica, pearl, carnelian, chalcedony, agate, jasper,
native gold, silver, copper, lead and iron. Some of these pieces
were of workmanship superior to that shown by the Indians subsequent
to the time of the builders of mounds. These pieces were usually
round and bore sometimes curious dots, circles, squares, crosses,
etc., with cabalistic or hidden meanings. Some of these marks
correspond to a startling degree with those on relics of the
ancient Babylonians, Egyptians, Greeks, Romans, and people of
later times. Frank C. Higgins, the well known expert on ancient
symbols, has discovered remarkable instances of similarity between
these rude markings and many found in the monuments, scarabs,
tablets, cylinders, pottery and other implements of the ancients,
together with satisfactory explanations. The similarities are
so many that there is little doubt that certain sell defined
religious and other customs of these mound builders were disseminated
throughout the world. These beliefs and teachings were at times
betrayed by these curious diagrams, squares, circles and dots.
Dickeson himself says (Page 37, Aboriginal Coins) that "They
often present a striking analogy, in form and design, to the
ancient Egyptian, agreeing in shape and ornament with the Egyptian
and Etruscan relics-exhumed from their sepulchral homes." These
early coins were frequently found on opening small oblong oval
mounds in the Mississippi Valley. The first specimens of this
kind were found in a small mound in Vidalia, Concordia Parish,
La., in 1844. They consisted of 43 small pieces, round and flat,
of lignite, coal, shell and jasper. With them was found a large
male skeleton. They were about an inch in diameter and several
bore dots, other horizontal dashes extending almost the entire
length. It was supposed the mound was of the Tensaw tribe of
Indians. A great number of these coins were found about 1864
in a small mound on the border of the Miami River in Ohio, the
largest coin being perforated with sixteen holes, and the others
were indented with from five to eight parallel lines. Other
objects were found, with figures of the Sun, diamond shaped
or ornamental design.
The bone
money was made from the tusks and ribs of the "mastodon gigantum,"
the enameled portion of the teeth of the alligator, and from
the bones of the car and cat-fish. Great quantities of the latter
have been unearthed. In the Grave Creek mound, near Wheeling,
W. Va., six hundred and fifty pieces made of ivory, resembling
button moles, were found with skeletons.
The ancient
shell money is found in almost every mound. The coins were made
from small spiral shells, the fresh water clam and even the
conch shell. Some of these were as large as two and a half inches
in diameter.
Also there
was a terra-cotta coin, a round piece of clay tempered with
bone, and also with ferruginous matter. The composition was
found to be: silex, 51, aluminun, 19, lime, 19 and iron, 21
parts. Mr. Elder has at present a fine collection, exhumed from
the Rembertis mound, which was recently washed away from its
location on the Savannah River, in Elbert County, Georgia. This
was the last of the noted mounds which stood close together
on the Savannah River. Some of these pieces, which are usually
of disc shape, bear curious markings, These markings occur also
on the bricks and stones found in Central America and upon the
dressed skins of the present Indians, thus establishing a connection
between the Aborigines of the Isthmus and those of the early
inhabitants of the Mississippi Valley. A human hand shown on
one of these coins suggests the early Roman quadrans, which
bore a hand.
Stone money
occurs frequently in these mounds. They vary in material from
jasper to common slate or sand-stone. These occasionally bore
curious markings, the design of the sun, etc., giving some little
glimpse into their religion. Other marks evidently referred
to the Deity. I note on one the correct portrayal of the Egyptian
Key of Life. The crinoid, or fossil lily was occasionally utilized.
The gold money is interesting. Specimens have been found in
Louisiana and Mississippi. Dr. Dickeson opened a mound in 1845,
at Fort Rosalie, near Natchez, Miss. Another of very fine gold
was found in Ross County, Ohio, lying in the palm of the hand
of a skeleton. Another, marked piece, was found in Perry County,
Ohio, in 1846, which bore two rude figures, a man and a bird,
and four foot-prints of the latter. Both faces of the piece
were alike. The silver money was similar to the gold, and many
bore similar curious devices. The copper money was often inscribed
also. Sixty pieces of it were found in the Grave Creek Mound.
In addition, rings of copper have been found which curiously
resemble the early ring money of Great Britain.
Wampum,
a bead made from the clam, periwinkle, conch and other shells,
has been used ever since the time of Columbus, and is still
used by some of the American Indian tribes. The early Dutch,
French and British colonists used and manufactured it in their
dealings with the Indians, from whom they first received it.
It was easy
for the early white traders to adopt this crude form of money
for exchange, because coined money, was then very scarce in
America. Hides, tobacco, grain, wampum, powder, fish, and even
lead rifle bullets were for a time used by them for exchange
mediums. Even the court of Massachusetts ruled in 1637 that
"Wampum should pass at six for a penny for any sum under 12
D (Pence)." The same court in 1640 ordered that "White wampum
shall pass at four a penny and blue at two a penny, and not
above 12 D at at time except the receiver desire more." This
law was repealed in 1661. The first money made by these settlers
was in 1634 when the court passed that "It is ordered that muskett
bullets of full boare shall passe currently for a farthing apiece,
provided that noe man shall be compelled to take above 12 D
at a tyme in them." Wampum had several names. The Dutch called
it "Seawant" and "Zewant", the French, "Porcelaine", and the
Indians "Sewan." The writer has seen a quantity of various sized
white porcelain beads, with a few scattering red beads, which
were unearthed from California mounds. These were evidently
of very early French origin, and may have had some bearing on
the above French name, "Porcelaine." Wampum was not easy of
manufacture, hence the Indian who was able to go to the sea-shore
to find his conch and periwinkle shells and who worked tediously
with them until they were of the required size and shape, well
earned the small value at which they passed for barter.
The early
Indians accepted the white man's wampum, and doubtless many
a New York family's fortune was assured through the acquisition
of valuable pelts and other property, for which wampum was given.
It is easy to imagine how such as the Hudson Bay Trading Company
got its foundation.
The powerful
Indian chiefs wore belts or strings of wampum. Every important
treaty was sealed by exchange of wampum belts or strings. Sometimes
these belts bore devices picturing the treaty in hand. It was
the guarantee of the good faith of a transaction. There was
a great variety of this wampum. Each section of the country,
each nation of Indians had its peculiar wampum. The early wampum
of the Five Nations was sometimes very small, some of it was
polished to a brilliant surface. Of the early New Jersey and
New York wampum, or Dutch Wampum, the purple colored was the
most valuable, and it is still the rarest of the Eastern wampum.
The Dutch wampum was made of the Sea-conch and the Mussel shells,
the latter being used for the purple wampum. This wampum was
polished and of perfectly rounded design.
The white
man's wampum was the best made, as he had more improved tools
than the Indian to manufacture it with. The great labor and
patience required by the Indian to make his wampum accounts
for the fact that no Indian is known to have become rich through
the making of it. The shells used in Carolina came from the
coast and were of unusual hardness. After all, how similarly
died the Egyptian, the Greek, the Roman and the Indian. The
objects used by them in life were buried with the Egyptians
to do the work of the departed in the next world. Ten thousand
of these little statuettes were found buried with an Egyptian
of influence. The poor Indian evidently did not believe that
all things were free for his use in the "Happy Hunting Grounds,"
and buried his wampum with him.
In 1641
the New York Colony declared that "all coarse wampum, well strung,
should pass six for a stuyver, and the well polished beads should
be valued at four for a stuyver." Even wampum was counterfeited,
and the Colonial Governor of New Amsterdam took measures to
stop this. The Plains Indians used pipe wampum, or beads of
unusually great length. The Navajo used mostly round circular
wampum beads of various colors, also there is a very valuable
and rare turquoise bead wampum, of which the writer has seen
three strings. These were of New Mexico and Arizona Indian workmanship,
and of the unusual size and shape used by the Navajos, viz.
small and circular. This was strung on thong and in this type
we have the most valuable of all the Indian money. Coarse wampum
was used by the natives of Africa, Japan and Mexico. Cowrie
shells were frequently used by the African natives and Chinese,
as well as by the American Indian tribes. The Africans also
had a species of heavy iron and bronze money. This formed almost
a complete circle, but was pounded or flattened at the ends.
This ring money was made in four or five sizes, but usually
of the same shape.
An important
fact which must not be lost sight of is that many coins were
struck in America, or rather, in mexico, over a hundred years
before they were coined in what is now the United States. As
early as 1535 Charles & Joanna, son and mother, ruling in Mexico,
struck silver to the values of One Half, One, Two, and Four
Reals. These bore two pillars, arms and their names. Philip
II, III and IV also struck silver for Mexico up the the value
of Eight reals, before the Massachusetts silver was issued.
Charles and Joanna also issued copper coins of the values of
One Fourth and One Sixteenth Reals. These bore crowned initials
on opposite sides, and names. The coppers were of very crude
workmanship.
The coinage
for Bermuda, or Sommer Islands, was doubtless the first struck
for the English Colonies in America. These Islands have no political
connection with the United States. They were settled in 1612
by the Virginia Company. These coins consisted of five varieties,
all with the same general types of a Hog, "Sommer hands", with
reverse type of a ship; and the denominations were II, III,
IV, VI, and XII Pence, or shilling. The two pence and groat
seem to have been of comparatively recent discovery, as Mr.
Crosby only knew of two shillings and one six pence at the time
of the issue of his great work on the "Early Coins of America."
The writer has had in recent years at least a half a dozen shillings
and three six pences, but no groats or two pences, and the latter
must be considered of extreme rarity.
The earliest
money of the New England, or Massachusetts series, was the "N.E."
type. These pieces consisted of three denominations, viz. III,
VI and XII Pences, bearing NE on obverse and the values on reverse,
on plain flans, sunk or incuse. These were coined in 1652. In
the same year followed the noted coins bearing the Willow, Oak
and Pine Trees. These read: MASATHUSETS IN NEW ENGLAND AN. DOM.
with values and date. They were issued in four denominations,
II, III, VI and XII Pence. In 1683 the Massachusetts Mint was
closed by order of the Crown. It is understood that most of
this money was coined from Spanish silver. The next issue of
silver coins was that of the Lord Baltimore Colony in Maryland
in 1658. This series bore the bust of Lord Baltimore and a coronet,
and was issued in denominations of shilling, six pence, four
pence and a small copper coin, known as the "Penny", of which
only one specimen is known to exist. Lord Baltimore had hardly
started to coin this money when the British government suppressed
it.
After these
uncessful efforts to establish an American Coinage, Spanish-American
silver was legalized at prescribed rates in terms of the shilling,
and this together with the copper tokens, struck chiefly by
speculators, formed the currency of the Colonies until after
they became independent. One of these speculators was William
Wood, who through the influence of a female friend of George
I, obtained a patent to make brass and copper money, known as
the "Rosa Americana" and "Woods" money. The Irish people repudiated
the Irish issue and they were sent to America for circulation.
The "Rosa Americana" coins bore the bust of George I. and a
Rose crowned and uncrowned; the Irish pieces bore the head of
George I. with "Hibernia" seated on the reverse. The prospect
of the enormous profits which Wood was certain to secure at
the expense of the Irish and Americans, prompted the Government
to induce Wood to surrender his grant in lieu of a pension of
three thousand pounds per year.
