The E-Sylum:  Volume 7, Number 2, January 11, 2004, Article 7

1688 MINT DOCUMENTS

  Tom DeLorey writes: "Let me be the 37th person to ask
  how this 1688 proposal could have resulted in "the first mint
  to strike coins on American soil," unless it also declares the
  Massachusetts Bay Colony to be Canadian soil."

  Well, Tom was actually the first to ask, but I wondered
  about this statement, too.   For more information, see the
  extensive lot description on the Holabird Associates catalog.
  The web address is
  http://www.absenteeauctions.com/holabird_23/cgi-bin/SHOWITEM.CGI

  The description begins "U. S. Mint Related Document from
  the American Colonies to the King of England, June, 1688.
  Includes the first proposal for the construction of a Mint
  on American soil. Series of three documents from the Edmund
  Andros Estate regarding a Proposal to His Majesty offered by
  the petitioners and their associates unto the committee appointed
  by His Majesty. These four documents trace one of the first, if
  not the first, proposal to the King for mineral rights in the
  American Colonies."

  [So the description is qualified as "ONE of the first" and
  emphasizes mineral rights rather than coining, which is
  discussed later in the description. -Editor]

  "The need for milling, smelting, and refining facilities was made
  apparent in the petitioners proposal to build a mint, thereby
  guaranteeing immediate marketability of metals produced: "to
  help the company defray costs, his Majesty would be gratiously
  pleased to erect a mint in new England for the coyning of small
  mony for change of...blankets or fine copper also of mony of
  gold and silver when by their means and industry it shall be
  provided out of any such mine or mines..." [note- the spelling
  here is as it appears on the original document.  Note the early
  spelling of these important words]"

  Wayne Homren, Editor

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