To reinforce Vergil's point, a Mexican half real coin was found at the Augusta
Arsenal a few years ago.  The arsenal was not established on this location until 1827-28.

    Since this discovery was the result of workmen's excavation, there is no clear
context for the coin.

    Chris Murphy

    History, Anthropology, Philosophy
    Augusta State University
    Augusta, GA  30904


"Vergil E. Noble" wrote:

> Spanish specie was still officially accepted as legal tender in the US
> until 1857, and probably had continued informal circulation for many years
> thereafter in some parts of the country because of those shortages.
> Certainly it's conceivable that a Spanish coin minted in the late 17th
> century could still be in use 100 years later in Maryland. Last summer I
> got a 1903 Indianhead penny as change in St. Louis (and lost it by the end
> of the day).
>
>
>                       david G Orr
>                       <[log in to unmask]        To:       [log in to unmask]
>                       DU>                      cc:       (bcc: Vergil Noble/MWAC/NPS)
>                       Sent by:                 Subject:  Re: Coin Identification
>                       HISTORICAL
>                       ARCHAEOLOGY
>                       <[log in to unmask]
>                       >
>
>
>                       08/15/2005 07:35
>                       AM AST
>                       Please respond to
>                       HISTORICAL
>                       ARCHAEOLOGY
>
>
> I think such continued circulation of such small
> denomination coins is believable. I remember finding worn
> first century Roman coins in fourth century sites. The
> shortage of specie was an endemic problem in the 18th and
> well into the nineteenth century.More recently, I remember
> as a student in England in the 1960's getting a halfpenny of
> William IV in change! Perhaps its Gresham's Law, good
> coinage (silver of fairly trustworthy weight and fineness)
> driving poorer coins out of circulation.Atany rate Spanish
> colonial coinage was the lingua franca of commerce for a
> long time. dave O.