Historical Background
THE EARLY DOLLARS OF THE U.S. 1794-1804
by R.W.Julian

Coinage Background
With the fall of Rome in the fifth century of our era, there arose in Europe a collection of petty kingdoms. It was not until the age of Charlemagne (768-814) that the practical concept of the great nation once more was seen in Europe. Under this ruler trade was encouraged, and coinage was used by the common man for the first time in centuries.
Prior to Charlemagne, traders and merchants were more accustomed to using gold coins, but beginning about A.D. 755 the French issued small thin silver coins called deniers. A few years later, King Offa of Mercia (an early English kingdom) struck high-qual¬ity silver pennies. For centuries the English were known for issuing the best coinage in Western Europe, and it was widely imitated in other countries.

As European trade began to expand there was a need for a larger coin than just the simple penny or one of the numerous equivalents struck throughout the continent. In 1202 the city-state of Venice introduced the grosso. By the end of the century most European nations had issued similar coins. Beginning in 1280, for example, King Edward III of England struck the groat, equivalent to four pennies.

With the introduction of the grosso and its imitations, trade became less confined. Payments were made easier for larger amounts. Gold began to be struck in quantity during the thirteenth century, although West Europeans had used Byzantine gold for centuries. However, the power of Constantinople was visibly declining during this period, and its coinage was increasingly debased.

The First "Silver Dollar"
A combination of small gold coins and larger silver served Europe reasonably well into the fifteenth century, but the ever-growing trade within the Continent and abroad mandated increased supplies of coin. In 1486 Archduke Sigismund of Tyrol struck the first dollar-sized silver coin. Its formal name was guldengroschen, but this was soon shortened to gulden or guldiner. It was meant to be equivalent with the gulden, one of the important European gold coins.

Sigismund was a pioneer in the field of large silver coins and proved to be well ahead of his time. It was not until about 1520 that the counts of Schlick in Bohemia (later part of Czechoslovakia) took the guldiner concept to its logical conclusion and began the striking of large silver coins on a regular basis.

Most of the silver for the Schlick coinage came from rich mines in the valley of St. Joachim (Joachimsthal). These coins became known as Joachimsthalers, which was soon shortened to thalers (or talers). By the middle of the sixteenth century large silver coins, based on the thaler, were being struck all over the continent. Many of the countries simply used a derivative name to show the value of their coinage. Sweden, for example, struck dalers while Dutch provinces coined Leeuwendaalders (lion dollars) from 1575 to about 1713. Petty German states in particular coined thalers, and even multiple thalers became almost common. These coins were frequently used as commemoratives and royal propaganda for the ruling house.

Spanish-American Silver Coins
In Spain, where vast wealth from the New World was pouring into her coffers, the government chose to coin pieces of eight reales, roughly equivalent to the thaler. Mints were established in the Americas to coin silver, and it was not long before the eight reales denomination was struck there also. However, most of the silver struck until the middle of the eighteenth century at Spanish-American mints was in the form of the extremely crude "cob" coins, well known to collectors. Such silver pieces were made by slicing planchets off the end of long silver bars, or "cobs." Mexico City was the first (in 1732) of these mints to abandon the old hammered coinage in favor of the screw press.

Coins of the American Colonists
In what is now the United States permanent settlements from England were established as early as 1607 at Jamestown, but it was decades before the colonists had much in the way of coined gold or silver. Prior to 1650 most trade in this country was on the barter system, and coins were as rare as the proverbial hen's teeth.

In 1652, in an effort to bring stability to the marketplace and also provide a circulating medium to the hard-pressed colonists, the Massachusetts General Court authorized the famous "NE" silver coinage. These first crude coins, which were struck for only a short time, used Spanish eight reales as well as Dutch daalders for their raw material. The Massachusetts coins were lighter than their British counterparts to keep them from circulating outside Massachusetts Bay. Later issues of Massachusetts silver had a tree on the obverse ("pine tree shillings," etc.). The coinage ended about 1682.

This first coinage by the English colonies in America was due to the interregnum in England. King Charles I had been beheaded in 1649 and the government was effectively controlled by Oliver Cromwell, soon to become the Lord Protector. Cromwell did not especially concern himself with colonial affairs, unlike the royal government, and many of the colonies were virtually independent until Charles II recovered the throne in 1660.

Most of the Spanish and Dutch silver coin that was brought to the colonies came from the well known—and illegal—commerce with the West Indies and Africa, the so-called triangular trade. Slaves and rum were key ingredients, and profits were taken in silver and, to a lesser extent, gold. The English government had enacted strict mercantile laws to keep the colonists from trading with areas reserved for English merchants, while Spain forbade all English men to trade with their colonies. Neither prohibition was very effective against the Yankee ship captains, however.
By the 1690s at the latest, the term "dollar" was in widespread use throughout the English colonies in America to describe the Spanish eight reales and the Dutch daalder. The latter was usually called a Lion Dollar to distinguish it from the Spanish dollar of eight reales. Contracts requiring monetary payment in silver coin almost always stipulated the Spanish or Lion dollar by name because of their reputation for quality.

The Dutch, for internal political reasons, began to strike fewer Lion dollars toward the end of the seventeenth century, and by 1700 they were virtually a thing of the past. In America the Spanish dollar gradually became the single accepted standard of value and the yardstick by which all other monies were judged. Colonies had begun to issue paper currency in the 1690s, and its circulating value depended upon the rate of conversion into Spanish silver coin.
It should be noted that the Spanish dollar was not the only silver coinage to be used in the colonies. The Mexico City Mint as well as several others-struck a considerable number of fractional pieces, such as half real, real, and two reales coins.2 Other denominations were made but never achieved widespread use.

1797 S$1 BB-71, B-3 NGC AU55 10x6 Large Letters Inquire SOLD Beautiful Early Silver Dollar, BB71, R-2 and a solid date for Red Book variety collectors. Wonderfully original + choice.	1799 S$1 B-23 ANACS F12 , CLEANED Inquire SOLD 1799 B.23. 8X5 Stars. Fine. A light patina over surfaces that have seen a light cleaning.
1800 S$1 NGC AU58 BB-187 Inquire SOLD Wholesome and wonderfully original early silver dollar. BB-187, R-2 with an incredible strike, so nice that one can count the hairlines over Miss Liberty's	1801 S$1 PCGS AU50 Inquire SOLD R-3. Long recognized as a date that just doesn't present itself well. This 1801 specimen is well struck and solid for the grade.
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