Regulated Gold Coins - Article I, Section 8, Clause 5 of the Constitution gives Congress the power to “coin money, regulate the value thereof, and of foreign coin, and fix the standard of weights and measures.” This power was necessary in post-Revolutionary times because gold coins from many countries of the world circulated as legal tender in the United States. They were valued for their gold content not as specie. This cacophony of coins of the world would be an obvious source of confusion in domestic and foreign commerce. Coins from Brazil, Portugal, Spain, France, and England all circulated concurrently. However, each had a different weight and fineness making trade extremely inconvenient.

The problem was first dealt with in colonial times, when coins were “regulated.” This practice continued after Independence. A goldsmith or silversmith would drill a coin and add gold in the form of a plug to increase its weight. If it was then overweight, he would clip and/or file its edge. Thus, coins were “regulated” to certain standards. The plugs that were added were then stamped with a hallmark indentifying the regulator who guaranteed the gold content of the piece. Regulators, who were also jewelers and highly thought of members of the community, included John Bayley, John Burger, John David Jr., Lewis Feuter, Myer Myers, Thomas Pons, Thomas Underhill, and William Hollingshead. However, none was so prominent and famous in numismatic circles as Ephraim Brasher.

When a gold coin circulates, its weight can change. Honest wear as well as dishonest practices cause changes in weight and therefore value. Coins were clipped and sometimes a bag of coins was “sweated.” It would be shaken and the resulting dust and other gold residue would be accumulated and later sold. So in addition to coins coming from different countries, they might have had to be regulated because of their diminished value as a result of wear, clipping, or sweating.

Usually numismatists are concerned about a coin’s pristine quality. In fact, today a “perfect” coin is given a grade of Mint State 70. Coins that are holed, clipped, filed, plugged, and counter stamped have considerably diminished value to most collectors. Most coins in these categories are considered undesirable and would not be certified by any of the major grading services except in the “details” category. However, in the realm of regulated gold coins, all of the previous notions of quality and appeal must be abandoned in favor of a different set of assumptions. Even counterfeit coins have been regulated and are highly collectible today. Obviously a regulated coin cannot be in Mint State condition. The host coin must be described in detail and, if possible, graded separately from the plug or plugs.

Regulated coins have been found in collections of famous collectors and numismatists. These include Virgil M. Brand, Louis Eliasberg, John J. Ford Jr., John Work Garrett, Waldo Newcomer, and John L. Roper. Edward Roehrs had an excellent collection of regulated coins that was auctioned in 2010 at the ANA Boston World’s Fair of Money.

It seems unusual to modern sensibility that colonists and citizens of the early republic would have silver tankards, beakers, and porringers; however, it should be noted that these items represented a person’s surplus wealth. Since there were no banks where a colonist could keep hard money, they took all their surplus coins to a silversmith and had them melted and made into useful objects. Since paper money often depreciated, savings were safer if invested in silver plate where they could also be useful in the home. In case of a theft, silver could easily be identified by the hallmark and engraving and recovered. If cash were needed, the silver could be taken to a silversmith and be reconverted into money. The silversmith had to be a man of highest integrity because he was expected to turn a certain quantity of silver plate into coin or the opposite.

Ephraim Brasher of the famous Brasher Doubloon, was a New York goldsmith, sliversmith, and jeweler. He was also George Washington’s silversmith, neighbor and personal friend. In the late 1870’s he struck gold coins that were equivalent to $16 and equal in weight to the Spanish doubloon. His EB hallmark is punched on the coins.

Brasher was a respected and valued member of the community. In a Coinage magazine article, March 1978, “The Bicentennial,” David T. Alexander said: “In the late 1700’s, silversmiths and goldsmiths were particularly respected members of the community, often acting as bankers, assayers, and authenticators of the Babel of gold and silver coins of the world which circulated in the bullion-starved colonies and the new republic.”

William Hollingshead was a Philadelphia silversmith who conducted business at the corner of Arch and Second Streets from 1754 until 1785. He was born on October 11, 1728 in Rocky Hill, NJ. He married Elizabeth Harvey on February 26, 1748 in Philadelphia. Hollingshead advertised in Philadelphia’s Pennsylvania Gazette, offering his services to the public as a gold and silversmith. In March of 1776 George Washington purchased two dozen silver cups from Hollingshead and had his family crest engraved on each.

Hollingshead’s silver was simpler than the style that was prevalent in England, reflecting the sober, simple and rigorous life in America. It was beautifully proportioned with sturdy, clean lines. It was clearly designed for practical, domestic purposes.

An example of his silver is a sugar bowl which represents the inverted pear form which was fashionable shortly before the Revolution and persisted into the early classical period. He also made a little cream jug on three legs. Like the sugar bowl, it is pear shaped. It has a scroll-cut lip and double-scroll handle. Both pieces are engraved with the monogram R A T suggesting that the two pieces formed part of a tea set.

Thomas Underhill was born on May 18, 1755 in Monroe, New York. He married Elizabeth Thorne in 1779. From 1775 to 1786 he worked in New York City as a silversmith. He was a partner in the firm of Underhill and Vernon with John Vernon from 1786 to 1787. Underhill died in 1824. A set of 6 teaspoons was recently auctioned. Made by Thomas Underhill of New York City, they are marked “TU” in a rectangular punch, much like the present coin.

Thomas Pons was a Boston silversmith and spectacle maker. In 1757 he married Sarah Fosdick in Boston. Pons worked from 1782 until 1811 and was listed in the 1800 city directory at 51 Newbury Street, the heart of Boston. By 1807 the Boston city directory listed him as a “spectacle manufacturer.” Three years later he declared his intention to make spectacles in the March 28, 1810 edition of The Massachusetts Spy and offered to lease or to sell his other business holdings. His PONS is the earliest known American spectacle maker marking. All of Pons’ regulated coinage is rare. He is one of the few known silversmiths who worked and lived in Boston in the post-Revolutionary period.

Lewis Feuter - Lewis Feuter’s father, Daniel, was a well known silversmith in New York who worked for the British making peace medals. Father and son worked together in 1769, but the son soon began running the business alone. F&G always marked at the center, often with a big lumpy plug. Feuter died in Jamaica in 1784 at the age of 38, just months after the end of the British occupation New York. He had left New York for Halifax, like many Loyalist evacuees, before ending up in Jamaica and meeting his early death.

John Burger was a New York silversmith who also regulated coins for the new United States government. In 1786 his address was listed as 207 Queen Street in New York City. John Burger was born in 1747 and died in 1828. He married Sarah Baker in 1767 in New York City. They had two children, Thomas and David. He was an apprentice to Myer Myers, a leader in the New York Jewish community and ardent supporter of the Patriot cause.

In 1775 he was a partner with Prichard, and from 1779 to 1783 he partnered with Myer Myers. From 1784 to 1805 Burger worked as a gold and silversmith in New York City. He was a member of the Gold and Silver Smiths Society of New York. Other members of this small guild included Myer Myers and Ephraim Brasher. In 1803 John Burger was also appointed as Corner in New York City. From 1805 to 1806 he worked with his sons, Thomas and David, at 62 James Street. In 1825 he was appointed as Regulator of Public Clocks in New York City.

The provision that allowed foreign gold and silver to be used as legal tender in the United States remained until the Act of 1857. It was then that the niche that foreign coins filled ended. It is clear that America’s dependence on foreign coinage was galling to Hamilton and other Federalists. However, the demographic and commercial success of the country in post-Revolutionary times made it dependent on the gold of Brazil and other countries of the Americas, and as long as these imports circulated, they had to be regulated.