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ON THE ORIGINS OF THE CONTINENTAL DOLLAR In recent issues we've carried a thread on Continental Dollars between Bill Eckberg and Tony Terranova. Here's a replay. -Editor
On 'Continental Dollar' Origins Regarding the Gorny & Mosch Fall Auctions 249-251 press release, the statement that the “Continental Dollar…was produced in the United States of America in 1776” is pure, unsubstantiated hype and speculation. ZERO evidence has ever published that these pieces were produced in the US, that they have any relationship to the Continental Congress, or even that they are supposed to be dollars. There is way too much “received knowledge” in numismatics and way too little honest skepticism of it. On the Origin of the Continental Dollars Does Eckberg have definitive proof that Continental dollars were not made in the US ? I asked Bill Eckberg, who writes: With all respect to my friend Tony, the burden of proof is on those who want to claim the Continental Currency coins were made in 1776 under the authority of Congress. Extraordinary claims like that require extraordinary evidence. I am only pointing out that I have never seen any evidence that these things have any connection to Congress or that they were made in 1776. Records DO say that a 1783 piece, likely the plain obverse quint, is “the first that has been made as an American coin.” To read the earlier E-Sylum article, see: Which brings us to this week. -Editor
Tony Terranova writes: The burden of proof is on those who are claiming it is not made in the US. The coins exist. If one wants to dispute there origins he or they should back up these new claims with proof.
The Ford and Newman sale catalogs have some of the more recent research on Continental Dollars. Earlier works include Michael Hodder's article in the 1991 American Numismatic
Association anthology, and of course Eric Newman's work.
On a whim I took a look in the Newman Numismatic Portal for early references to the coins. The only reference I found prior to 1800 is a 1784 German publication, a general history book by Matthias Christian Sprengel titled Allgemeines historisches Taschenbuch. The Portal notes that it is "Notable for an engraved plate illustrating the Libertas Americana medal and a Continental dollar, one of the earliest such depictions." Here's the plate. -Editor  Interestingly, the engraved text on the coins is in German. Of course, the Portal doesn't contain every book in the world. So, make me smart, folks. Are there any earlier known
references to the coins? What are the first known mentions in the U.S.? -Editor
To read the complete complete book on the Newman Portal, see: To read the earlier E-Sylum articles, see: Wayne Homren, Editor The Numismatic Bibliomania Society is a non-profit organization promoting numismatic literature. See our web site at coinbooks.org. To submit items for publication in The E-Sylum, write to the Editor at this address: whomren@gmail.com To subscribe go to: https://my.binhost.com/lists/listinfo/esylum All Rights Reserved. NBS Home Page Contact the NBS webmaster 
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