UNSOLVED RIDDLES OF THE CONTINENTAL DOLLAR

The January 2018 issue of The Numismatist has an article by Erik Goldstein and David McCarthy, “The Myth of the Continental Dollar,” which makes the same arguments for the Continental Dollar being issued in 1783 as I did in my E-Sylum post, READER THOUGHTS ON CONTINENTAL DOLLAR ORIGINS. They add, however, that on April 2, 1783, Robert Morris, Superintendent of Finance of the United States, noted that the initial Nova Constellatio pattern he received was “the first that has been struck as an American Coin”—further evidence that the Continental Dollar was not made before then (p. 53).

David McCarthy is particularly concerned that Continental Dollars not be given priority over the 1783 Nova Constellatio 500-unit (“quint”) pattern that he identified as the “First American Coin” in a profusely-illustrated (and convincing) article in the August 2017 issue of The Numismatist, written by him with editorial assistance from Donn Pearlman. So he might be considered biased; not so Erik Goldstein, Senior Curator of Mechanical Arts & Numismatics. at the Colonial Williamsburg Foundation. In any case, their arguments are solid.

But many mysteries remain. Here are some unanswered questions about the Continental Dollar:

• Is the ornamental edge on some Continental Dollars found on any other medals or coins?

• Was the Continental Dollar struck after or before the tin 1783 Treaty of Paris medal with the same error regarding the placement of the states?

• Who was E.G.? (Erik Goldstein, in a private email, agrees with me that it was likely someone either British or European)

• Who made the Continental Dollars?

• Were they presented to an influential American for acceptance as an American coin? If so, who?

• Were they restruck for sale to British collectors?

The impressive Continental Dollar is a highlight of any fine collection of 18th-century American numismatics. All students of Colonial Era currency crave answers to these questions.

To read earlier E-Sylum articles, see:
READER THOUGHTS ON CONTINENTAL DOLLAR ORIGINS (http://www.coinbooks.org/v20/esylum_v20n45a21.html)
ROB RODRIGUEZ ON THE CONTINENTAL DOLLARS (http://www.coinbooks.org/v20/esylum_v20n44a13.html)
ONGOING THOUGHTS ON THE CONTINENTAL DOLLAR (http://www.coinbooks.org/v20/esylum_v20n43a12.html)

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