N UMISM ATICS NUTTALL. 



67 



fire* to be enforced within that State, and, accordingly, 

 the Force act not being called into operation, the ordi- 

 nance nullifying it was inoperative, and appears to 

 have received no attention from the nStional government. 



See Statutes at Large of South Carolina, vol. i., 

 Appendix: Elliot's Debates on Federal Constitution. 

 vol. iv. ; Dr. C. J. Stilli? on "J. R. Poinsett " iu 

 Penna. Magazine of History (1888), and STATES 

 RIGHTS. (A. j. w.) 



NUMISMATICS, AMERICAN. Only the coins 

 i irvrr 9^ ^ e United States and its pre-exist- 



628(D 643 '"" colonies will be noticed here. The 

 Am. Rep!)'. earlv settlers of New England found the 

 Indians using irumpnm, or strings of 

 beads made from shells, as a currency, and for other 

 purposes. The General Court of Massachusetts soon 

 recognized this money and fixed an arbitrary rate of 

 exchange. At first six white beads, made from the 

 sea-conch, or three purple, made from the muscle-shell, 

 were taken as equivalent to an English penny. In a 

 few years four white and two purple were declared to 

 have that value. Musket balls and other articles were 

 made legal tender for small amounts and furs and 

 peltry for large sums. The coins brought from Eng- 

 land or received in trade from the Dutch and the West 

 Indies tended to flow back to Europe, and what re- 

 mained in the country were insufficient for the needs 

 of the colonists. On May i>7, lii.W, therefore, the 

 General Court of Massachusetts ordered a mint to be 

 established in Boston, and John Hull, mint-master, 

 struck silver shillings, sixpences, and threepences. 

 They bore the device of the pine-tree, and were of the 

 same fineness but less in weight than the English 

 coin of the same denomination. For thirty-six years 

 this mint continued in operation in spite of opposition 

 from the mother country. An attempt was made to 

 conciliate Kinfr Charles II. by substituting the Royal 

 Oak for the Pine-tree. Other changes were made in 

 the device, but no alteration in the date, which re- 

 mained always 16o2, but two-penny pieces were 

 coined with the date I Mi;. No other colony had a 

 mint, but in 1659 Lord Baltimore caused shillings, six- 

 pences, and groats to be coined for use in Maryland. 

 James II. issued tin coins for circulation in America, 

 though few seem to have found their way thither. In 

 17'_'J. I72.'5. and 1733 copper coins were minted in 

 England with the legend "Rosa Americana." There 

 were also copper half-pence issued in 1 773 for circu- 

 lation in Virginia, and in 1774 silver shillings. Florida 

 and Louisiana had also some colonial coins before they 

 became part of the United States. 



When the independence of the American colonies 

 was declared the feeling of the people was manifested 

 in the issue of coins or tokens with patriotic inscrip- 

 tions. The coins sometimes were authorized by the 

 States, sometimes emitted by traders, or even pre- 

 pared iii England and Germany and sent here as a 

 speculation. Massachusetts in 1787 ventured again to 

 establish a mint, which Issued only cents. The other 

 colonies which had a coinage were Connecticut, Ver- 

 mont, New York, New Jersey, Maryland, and Ken- 

 tucky. The Continental Congress on Oct. 16, 1786, 

 passed an act for the establishing of a mint, and regu- 

 lating the value and alloy of the national coin. In 

 July, 1787., the government prescribed the device for 

 copper coin, and uridi-r tlii.s authority the so-called 

 ''Franklin Penny " with the legend " Mind Your Busi- 

 ness " was made by contract The Federal Consti- 

 tution, ratified in 1789, deprived the States of their 

 former right of coining money. After the Federal 

 government was organized under this Constitution 

 the Mint was established at Philadelphia in 1792 

 (see MINT) and the regular coinage began in the next 

 rear. Copper cents and half-cents, bearing an ideal 

 head, with loose-flowing hair, were first issued. 

 "Washington cents," however,, had been prepared as 



pattern-pieces in 1791, but, being disapproved by 

 Washington himself, did not become current. In the 

 article on MINT are given the dates of the authoriza- 

 tion of the various coins with their respective weights 

 and fineness. The devices have been changed at vari- 

 ous times. 



Down till about .1837 the obverse had generally a 

 female head, sometimes with a liberty-cap, and some- 

 times with a fillet bearing the word " Liberty." After- 

 wards was substituted a full-length seated figure with 

 a liberty-cap on a pole and a shield with a band in- 

 scribed "Liberty." The reverse on the principal 

 coins has the eagle, often with a shield, arrows, and 

 olive branch, but in the minor coins the denomination 

 of the piece encircled by a wreath. The coins issued 

 at the branch mints at Charlotte (1830-61), Dahlonega 

 (1838-61), New Orleans (1836-61), San Francisco 

 (1854'), and Carson City (1870) are distinguished by the 

 initials C. , D. , O. , S. , and C. C. , on the reverse. 



At the establishment of the mint eagles, or ten- 

 dollar pieces, were the highest denomination author- 

 ized. Their coinage was discontinued in 1804 and re- 

 sumed in 1838 after the gold mines of the Carolinas 

 and Georgia began to furnish a larger supply of the 

 precious metal. The discovery of gold in still greater 

 abundance in California caused demand for a larger 

 coin, and the double-eagle was issued in 1850. Ingots 

 and bars of various sizes were issued by the assayer of 

 the State of California, and after a time a fifty-dollar 

 piece was issued by the U. S. Assay Office in San 

 Francisco. The same excess of gold, which required 

 these larger denominations, called into existence also 

 gold dollars, which were authorized in 1849. Besides 

 the governmental issues there were octagonal and ring 

 dollars and gold half-dollars and quarters put in circu- 

 lation in California. The Mormons in Utah also had a 

 series, of gold coins with peculiar devices, and their 

 favorite inscription, "Holiness to the Lord." The 

 Constitution of the United States prohibited coining 

 by the States, and it has been held that individuals 

 may issue coins which are not similar to the national 

 coinage. Such coins had been issued by Reed in 

 Georgia in 1830. and by the Bechtlers in North Caro- 

 lina Irom 1831 for several years. 



As works of art the coins of the United States are 

 little esteemed. The finest was the three-dollar piece 

 of 1854, which was soon withdrawn as too close in 

 value to the quarter-eagle. The rarest gold coins of 

 the United States are: Eagles, 1798, 1838; Half- 

 eagles. 1797, 115, 1822, 1824, 1828; Quarter-eagles, 

 1796, 1797, 1798, 1806. The Double-eagle of 1849 in 

 the U. S. Mint is the only one in existence. The 

 rarest silver coin is the Half-dime of 1802. Of several 

 coins of rather early date none are known to collectors 

 although their coinage is reported by the Mint. In 

 1815 no cents were coined, this being the only year in 

 which that coin was not issued. See M. W. Dicke- 

 son's American Numiimatical Manual (Phila. , 1859); 

 and Henry Phillips, Jr. 's, Coins of the United States 

 (Phila., 1881). (J. P. L.) 



NUTTALL, THOMAS (1786-1859), naturalist, was 

 born in Yorkshire, England, in 1786. By trade a printer, 

 he came to the United States, travelled extensively in 

 the Mississippi yalley, exploring both the Missouri and 

 the Arkansas Rivers, and also visited the Pacific coast. . 

 Part of his observations appeared in A Journal of 

 Travels into the Arlcansas Territory (1821). He also 

 published a Manual of the OrnithoInQi/ of the United 

 States and Canada, (1834), and in his North American 

 Sylva (1817) translated Michaux's work, which he 

 subsequently enlarged (3 vols., 1842-49). From 1822 

 to 1834 he was professor of natural history in Harvard 

 College, but having inherited an estate in England, 

 returned to that country and died there, Sept. 10, 1859. 

 See BOTANY. 



