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
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DU> cc: (bcc: Vergil Noble/MWAC/NPS)
Sent by: Subject: Re: Coin Identification
HISTORICAL
ARCHAEOLOGY
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08/15/2005 07:35
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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.
