CURIOSITIES OF AMERICAN COINAGE. 



597 



approved of the device, and suggested the substitution of the head of 

 Liberty. Since that time no American coin has ever displayed the 

 head of any individual. 



Coinage by Private Individuals and Companies. — An exceed- 

 ingly interesting, curious, and indeed inexplicable feature of the 

 early history of coinage of 

 money in America, regarding 

 which there is but little accu- 

 rate information available at 

 the present day, is the issuing, 

 on a large scale, of gold, silver, 

 and copper coins (also " to- 

 kens ") by private individuals 

 and by trading companies. It 

 will surprise many, no doubt, to learn the extent to which this prac- 

 tice was carried, and that it was permitted to exist until a compara- 

 tively recent period, notwithstanding the express prohibition in the 

 Constitution of all such acts. 



In a report made to Congress by the director of the Mint (Dr. 

 Patterson) in 1840, these words may be found: 



" Coinage of gold and silver, though withheld from the State, is 

 freely permitted by individuals." 



In 1850 the assayers of the Mint (Eckfeldt and Du Bois) re- 

 ported : " There are several classes of gold coins which are struck 

 within the national boundaries, but are not of the United States; 

 these are Bechtler's coins of North Carolina and the California coins." 



s;old piece. Carolina gold ; 20 carats, 140 

 grains. 0. Bechtler, August 1, 1834. 



/ D^i 'J ^ 



^5 gold piece. Carolina gold ; 21 carats, 

 134 grains. C. Bechtler. 



$5 gold piece. California gold. 

 N. G. & N., 1849. 



In 1851 the assayers reported that twenty-seven different kinds 

 of gold coins, issued from fifteen private mints, had been received and 

 assayed at the United States Mint in Philadelphia. 



The earliest private coinage intended for use in the colonies of 

 America (except the Bermuda " hog " coins) is known to numismat- 

 ists under the general name " Rosa Americana," and the story con- 



and ten dollars. Silver '* dismes " and " half-disiiies," having a bust of Martha Washing- 

 ton, were struck in 1792, and are now highly valued. 



