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Republic of Vermont Copper Coins
By Robert W. Hoge, Former Curator, ANA Money Museum
The ANA Museum holds a major collection of the interesting and
elusive copper coins of the 18th century Republic of Vermont. This is
due in large part to the generous gifts of Mr. Sanborn Partridge, Museum
benefactor and serious student of early Vermont issues. Nearly all of
the recorded die varieties are present, with the exception of a few of
the late, aberrant mulings. Many of the Museum's examples are in an
outstanding state of preservation for this series (condition census
specimens).
In the 1770s, the sparsely populated, remote region of the Green
Mountains--a frontier area contested by the British colonies of New
Hampshire and New York--constituted itself as an independent country. In
1785 it began to issue its own coinage, in advance of any of the
thirteen newly-independent neighboring American states or their
confederation government. The concept was public-spirited and ambitious,
but beset by severe manufacturing and economic difficulties almost from
the outset.
Popular with collectors, the Vermont coinage has also been a favorite
for researchers who have endeavored to sort out and attribute the
sequences of issues and die varieties. We know that on June 15, 1785,
the Vermont legislature granted an exclusive two-year concession for
coining copper to one Reuben Harmon, Jr., of the village of Rupert, in
Bennington County. Harmon later negociated a further contract with the
state, to extend for eight years from July 1, 1787. By subcontractual
agreement, he shared this production work with hardware manufacturer
Capt. Thomas Machin, of Newburgh, New York. Through meticulous
identification of the planchets, dies and device and letter punches used
in the coinage, the products of the two mints of Harmon and Machin and
their order of striking have been largely recognized.
The Vermont legislature controlled the selection of designs to be
used for the coinage under Harmon's contracts. First, an original and
attractive mountainous landscape behind a plow was chosen as an obverse,
to be combined with an "all-seeing eye" and star pattern adopted from
the reverse devices of the speculative NOVA CONSTELLATIO coppers
recently imported from Britain. The obverse legend was VERMONTIS (or
VERMONTS or VERMONTENSIUM) RES PUBLICA ("Republic of Vermont"); the
reverse, STELLA QUARTA DECIMA ("fourteenth star"). This latter
represented the State's aspiration to join the new union of the thirteen
former colonies.
Harmon's second contract, dated October 24, 1786, stipulated a change
to a bust/seated "Britannia" figure design combination. The basic
appearance of this series had been made familiar to Americans through
their use of British coppers (halfpennies and farthings) and their
imitations which had been the typical money in circulation for many
years. This new standard Vermont "bust" series carried VERMON AUCTORI
(an abbreviated form of Vermontis auctoritate--"by authority of
Vermont") as their obverse legend and INDE ET LIB (for independentia
et libertas--"independence and liberty") and the date on their
reverses.
The Rupert mint's first attempt at an anglicized "bust" type coinage
produced the rather pathetic "Baby Head" issue, evidently struck from
dies cut by the same tools as the "plow" series. Refinement of a sort
took place, still in 1786, with the introduction of bust/seated
Britannia types closely copied from the newly introduced Connecticut
State copper coinage. These feature a left-facing bust corresponding to
the British coinage of George II (1727-1760) rather than the image
characteristic of George III (1760-1820). In 1787 a more
contemporary-looking right-facing bust type, copied from that on the
George III issues and their imitations, made its appearance. Dated 1787
and 1788, coins of this type are believed to have been struck at the
Rupert mint on into early 1789, and even later (into 1790?) at the
Newburgh mint.
Vermont coppers in the ANA Museum collection are catalogued by the
die variety combinations ("B" numbers) assigned by Kenneth E. Bressett
in his 1976 publication "Vermont Copper Coinage," in Eric P. Newman,
Ed., Studies on Money in Early America, New York, 1976, pp.
173-198. For the convenience of many collectors and students, they are
additionally referenced to the variety numbers ("R" numbers) assigned by
Hillyer Ryder, supplimented by John M. Richardson and others from 1920
through the 1950s. Altogether, 26 obverse and 26 reverse dies have been
noted, combined so as to have struck 38 separate "varieties." In a
number of cases, it is clear that damaged, worn out and discarded dies
were brought back into service for new (albeit "stressful") marriages.
This occurred, it would seem, toward the end of the production at
Machin's Newburgh mint especially.
The first six Vermont copper issues (three dated 1785 and three 1786,
including six obverse and five reverse dies, B 1-A through 6-E) are of
the landscape and plow/eye and stars type. Their dies, which share
impressions of the same punches for their lettering and design elements,
are believed to have been cut by William Coley, a New York City
silversmith in partnership with Daniel van Voorhies and Simon Alexander
Bayley. The seventh issue, the "Baby head" type (B 7-F), would seem to
have also been Coley's work, although he may have been assisted by James
Atlee, of the Rahway, New Jersey, mint. Atlee reputedly had obtained
experience preparing a comparable product in the form of his imitation
Connecticut coppers.
Coley probably also collaborated with Abel Buell, who was coining the
legitimate Connecticut copper coinage and developing improved
mass-production techniques with a hubbing process. Design similarities
can be identified between Buell's Connecticut coinage and Coley's "bust
left" issues of 1786 and '87 (struck from two obverse and three reverse
dies). From July 1, 1787, Atlee, who had become a principal in Machin's
operations, is believed to have taken over the Vermont coinage's die
production. Sixteen issues struck from these Atlee dies (seven obverses
and twelve reverses) are believed to have been minted at Rupert, while
at least twelve more issues (involving eleven obverse and seven reverse
dies) were struck at Newburgh. The late Newburgh issues (struck into
1790?) were very crude and irregular, re-utilizing worn and rejected
dies and sometimes recombining them in peculiar ways. Some of the issues
amount to mulings of dies intended for entirely different coinages, such
as the GEORGIUS III obverse for an imitation British halfpence and the
IMMUNE COLUMBIA 1785 reverse.
The ANA collection includes representation from the entire series of
Vermont coppers from both the Rupert and Newburgh mints and features
excellent examples of most of the die varieties. As is typical of the
entire Vermont series, a number of the ANA specimens show clear evidence
of early mints' production problems. They manifest weak strikes, flawed
planchets, use of cracked or worn-out dies and generally fairly crude
die-cutting workmanship. In the absence of a reliable supply of suitable
planchets, many pieces were overstruck on pre-existing coins, such as
the NOVA CONSTELLATIO coppers and Irish regal halfpennies or their
imitations. In some cases these under-types may be readily identified.
We are delighted to make close examination of the collection available
to students everywhere, and to make available for the world-wide public
a glimpse into a little known by-way of economic history.
For complete description of the die varieties shown, students should
refer to Bressett (above). Following the Accession Number (Acc. No.) of
each of the coins listed below (or after the corresponding note that an
example of the issue is not present in the ANA cabinet) is a figure
shown in parentheses. This number has been taken from Bressett to
indicate the approximate number of examples of the issue believed to be
extant (basically, his high estimate). Wherever the ANA Museum
collection includes more than one example of an issue, only the best
preserved specimen is included in this exhibit.
Rupert Mint Issues, Dies by William Coley
Landscape/Eye Series
Rupert Mint Issues, Dies by William Coley
"Baby Head" Issue
Head left Series
B
8-G (R 10) 1786. Acc. No. 1991.81.8. (70)
B
9-H (R 11) 1786. Acc. No. 1991.81.9. (100)
B 9-I (R 15) 1786. (Not in ANA Coll.) (10) Die "I" quickly broke in use;
"9" was recombined with "H".
Rupert Mint Issues, Dies by James Atlee (All of "Bust"
type)
B 10-J (R 34) 1787. (Not in ANA Coll.) (3)
B
10-K (R 14) 1787. Acc. No. 1991.81.12. (200)
B
11-K (R 12) 1787. Acc. No. 1991.81.10. (300)
B 12-K (R 32) 1787. (Not in ANA Coll.) (3)
B 13-L (R 19) 1788. Acc. No. 1976.11.27. (40)
B
10-L (R 20) 1788. Acc. No. 1991.81.15. (75)
B 10-M (R 37) 1788. (Not in ANA Coll.) (3)
B 10-N (R 38) 1788. (Not in ANA Coll.) (4)
B
10-O (R 23) 1788. Acc. No. 1991.81.18. (75)
B
10-P (R 36) 1788. Acc. No. 1989.142.3. (12)
B
10-Q (R 22) 1788. Acc. No. 1991.81.17. (25)
B
10-R (R 21) 1788. Acc. No. 1991.81.16. (50)
B
14-S (R 17) 1788. Acc. No. 1991.81.14. (50)
B
15-S (R 16) 1788. Acc. No. 1991.81.13. (500)
B
16-T (R 26) 1788. Acc. No. 1990.14.3. (12)
B
16-U (R 25) 1788 Acc. No. 1991.81.20. (roughly 300, including about
250, 60 and 3 examples from the three pairings, respectively) These dies
were paired on three separate occasions, first at Rupert in 1788, then
at Newburgh in 1789, and once again, after the dies had demonstrably
shattered, at Newburgh in late 1789 or 1790.
Newburgh Mint Issues, Dies by James Atlee (All of "Bust"
type)
B
17-V (R 13) 1787. Acc. No. 1991.81.11. (800) A muling; this
BRITANNIA reverse is known in combination with a Newburgh GEORGIUS III
REX obverse.
B
18-W (R 27) 1788. Acc. No. 1991.81.21. (600)
B
19-X (R 18) 1788. Acc. No. 1990.14.2. (50) Dies "19" through "22"
(with reverses X, Y and U) are found overstruck on Irish George III
halfpennies.
B 20-X (R 35) 1788. (Not in ANA Coll.) (6)
B 21-Y (R 33) 1788. (Not in ANA Coll.) (4)
B
21-U (R 28) 1788. Acc. No. 1990.14.4. (30)
B
22-U (R 29) 1788. Acc. No. 1991.81.22. (42, that is, 30 and 12
respectively from the two die pairings) Die "U" having already been
utilized at Rupert in combination with "16", it was removed to Newburgh
and coupled with "21", "22", "24", "25", again with "16" and once again
with "22". In its second marriage with "22", die "U" shows that it had
been shattered.
B
16-S (R 24) 1788. Acc. No. 1991.81.19. (300) Note reuse of the
Rupert die "16", now showing damage.
B
23-S (R 30) 1788. Acc. No. 1989.142.2. (15) A rejected obverse
(backward C in AUCTORI and other imperfections) here combined with the
now cracked "S" reverse.
B
24-U (R 31) 1788. Acc. No. 1990.14.5. (60)
B 25-U (R --) 1788. (Not in ANA Coll.) (12) A muling; an obverse of the
Connecticut series (Henry C. Miller, The State Coinage of Connecticut,
New York, 1920: variety 1.1) in damaged condition is here combined with
the well-used reverse "U".
B
26-Z (R 1) 1785. Acc. No. 1990.14.1. (25) A muling; an obverse
presumably rejected for use at the Rupert mint is here combined by
Machin with the IMMUNE COLUMBIA 1785 die acquired from the Morristown,
New Jersey, mint; he also combined this latter with an imitation George
III British halfpenny die.
Collectable Forgery
B
-- (R 5) 1785. Acc. No. 1989.142.1. (8, including about 4 each of
the struck and cast pieces) Ryder's plow type No. 5 is now known to be a
contemporary struck forgery, of which issue a cast counterfeit version
was evidently made soon after the initial discovery (ca. 1865) of the
copy, which was believed at that time to be a genuine and previously
unknown rare issue. The ANA's coin is one of the cast versions.
All but one of the coins in this exhibit are from the former
collection of Sanborn Partridge. The other, B 13-L, was the gift of R.
Henry Norweb. Additional (unshown) Vermont coppers in the ANA collection
were donated by Margaret H. Lloyd as well as by Norweb and Partridge.
The contributions of all donors are much appreciated.
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