1714 GLOUCESTER SHILLING

PREV ARTICLE NEXT ARTICLE FULL ISSUE PREV FULL ISSUE

V25 2022 INDEX E-SYLUM ARCHIVE

The E-Sylum: Volume 25, Number 16, April 17, 2022, Article 20

"A rarity of the highest order", says the catalog, and I have to agree. With only two known examples, the Gloucester 'Shilling' is about as rare as they come. Offered by Heritage in their upcoming May 4-8 2022 Central States sale. From The Long Island Collection, Part III. -Editor

1714 Gloucester Shilling Fine 12 NGC. Breen-237, W-8180, R.8. Ex: Long Island Collection. The 1714 Gloucester shilling is an issue collectors come to know through osmosis, generally after years of flipping through the pages of the annual Guide Book. It is not an issue they are ever likely to have encountered "in the wild." The example offered here, last seen publicly 40 years ago, is one of only two pieces known to the numismatic community.

Sylvester Sage Crosby documented the 1714 Gloucester shilling in his 1875 opus, Early Coins of America, where he wrote:

"Of the history of the earliest of these, called the Gloucester Token, nothing is known. It appears to have been intended as a pattern for a shilling of a private coinage, by Richard Dawson of Gloucester [county?] Virginia. It is probable that no tokens of this intended issue were actually put in circulation, as we find no specimen in silver. But two specimens of this are known, both struck in brass. A full description cannot be given of it, as both impressions are very imperfect, and together they do not supply the entire legends with certainty."

It was not until 1976 or shortly thereafter that one of the two examples (ex: Appleton) was found to be a cast counterfeit. As luck would have it, this piece turned up a couple of years later. In its only public appearance to date, the Bowers and Ruddy cataloger explained the circumstances surrounding its discovery:

"It was discovered around March, 1981 when a Gloucester resident mentioned to a neighborhood woman that he was a coin collector. The woman, who like the collector prefers to remain anonymous, told the collector that she had some coins and offered to sell them. The local collector weighed the coins and paid her as though all of the pieces were .900 fine silver. Actually, there was a mixture of material, what is often called a 'dresser drawer accumulation.'"

The collector eventually identified the token, which was authenticated by the International Numismatic Society Authentication Bureau, and he and the original owner partnered in bringing the coin to auction. Not only did the discovery of this example bring the population of Gloucester tokens back up to two, it also helped clarify the issue's origins. The legends and devices on each of the two known examples are incomplete, but by comparing them, a more complete picture emerges. The obverse depicts a building with chimneys at both ends and XII below. Around the obverse is the legend, GLOVCESTER COVRTHOVSE VIRGINIA. The central reverse motif is a pentagonal star with the legend ANNO DOM 1714 RIGHAVLT DAWSON around. According to the Bowers and Ruddy cataloger, William DeHardit, editor of a local newspaper in Gloucester County, stated "that a family with the last name Righault owned land near the Gloucester Courthouse, the structure believed to be depicted on the obverse of the token. The land was granted to Christopher Righault in 1654 by the Virginia Land Office." According to DeHardit, "[t]he name Dawson is associated with the Abingdon Church section of Gloucester County."

Crosby described the Gloucester token as "a pattern for a shilling" that was never put into circulation. The Bowers and Ruddy cataloger contends: "As tobacco was the legal currency then in Virginia, the token must have functioned as some kind of warehouse receipt or scrip issue. There is no reason to assume, as some have done, that it represented a pattern for a silver coin or a substitute for silver."

Opportunities to acquire such a rarity come along maybe once a generation. It will be interesting to see the competition come auction day. -Editor