ENGRAVER JAMES SMITHERS

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V21 2018 INDEX E-SYLUM ARCHIVE

The E-Sylum: Volume 21, Number 31, August 5, 2018, Article 14

I write to comment on the July 15, 2018 E-Sylum. I read the following regarding James Smithers and what I believe was a plea for assistance from readers having more information:

• The Continental Congress conducted a majority of its materials-based business in the Philadelphia area, and its paper money, from A to Z, was produced by local tradesmen. Though David Rittenhouse supplied the first 36 "cutts" 30 for the Continental Currency plates in 1775, we don't know who supplied those employed for the February 1776 fractional bills. However, other convenient options existed. Philadelphia had many of the best engravers and metalworkers in 18th-century America, like James Smithers, who made cuts for some currency issues.

Other highly skilled mechanics, like silversmith Joseph Richardson, produced the dollar-size 1756 "Kittanning Destroyed" and the 1757 "Treaty of Easton" medals, the first such items struck in British America. Even the dies Richardson used were Philadelphia-made, from the hand of clockmaker Edward Duffield. One might wonder why the Continental Congress would turn to Gallaudet in New York City, a hundred miles and a few days' travel away, when it had a plethora of more talented craftsmen with a greater array of skills right in its backyard.

I am, coincidentally, conducting research on Pitt Tokens, which were allegedly engraved and/or struck by James Smithers. My research will be presented next year in JEAN Issue No. 3. Without getting too much into Pitt Tokens or Mr. Smithers connection to them, I wish to comment on Mr. Smithers’ suitability as a potential candidate to have worked for the Continental Congress as an engraver. It is true that Mr. Smithers was a gifted engraver – far more gifted than your readers are perhaps aware. His skill set, in my opinion, puts him on par with Paul Revere and Abel Buell. Smithers, like these men, was a master of all forms of engraving and excelled in the rococo style popular during the period. With this skill he engraved the plates for some Pennsylvania currency emissions; even placing his name on the 40 shilling notes of 1775 and 1776.

The part of James Smithers’ life that has not been discussed before is that he was a notorious Tory and counterfeiter. Indeed, his loyalty to the crown was such that he was charged under a bill of attainder by the Pennsylvania legislature for high treason in June 1778 for aiding and assisting the British. This aid came in the form of counterfeiting Pennsylvania notes during the British occupation of Philadelphia. As the original artist of some of the plates for these notes, he was uniquely qualified to copy them. He escaped the hangman’s noose by fleeing Philadelphia under British military escort to New York City, then under British occupation.

In 1779, he advertised his engraving skills in Rivington’s Royal Gazette – a New York City Tory paper. Instead of returning to Philadelphia after the war, Smithers was transported by the Royal Navy along with his entire family (wife, 9 children, and 2 servants) to Port Roseway, Nova Scotia.

As a high-profile Tory charged with treason, Smithers must have questioned his life in the hands of Washington’s Army after the British left New York and did not want to chance fate. It was not until it became clear there would not be any violent retribution against Tories for their conduct during the war that he returned to Philadelphia in 1786.

Smithers originally came to America circa 1768 from England and died circa 1799. Your readers and other researchers can make of this information what they will, but I have found no evidence that James Smithers, Sr. or Jr. were employed by the Continental Congress in 1776. Should my research uncover any connection between Smithers and the Continental Dollar or Continental paper currency, I will be sure to update everyone. If I am in error in any of my facts, I hope someone will take the time to correct me as my research is still under way.