Unique Pewter 1776 Continental Dollar Discovered By Heritage

None were officially issued for circulation. But, tantalizingly, some seem to have gotten out there, at the time

Based on my very limited knowledge of pewter....you can melt this stuff in your kitchen oven (350-450 degrees) it seems an inappropriate metal for coining. This is a casting metal. To me anything made of pewter screams of contemporary counterfeit...but I am no expert. My amateur gut tells me that any pewter coins of this era were smartly made copies in hopes of fooling the holder that they were silver coins. Again...just my nonfactual amateurish perspective. I was lucky enough growing up to live near a pewter shop and I never saw anything made of the stuff ever be made other than by casting and then later engraving. Cast, bend, engrave, polish was the standard procedure for everything they made.

Like I said before, there is no doubt in my mind that mine is a copy, just not sure when it was made or copied let alone when or who passed them out. Here is mine with the paper that is with it.

I am eager for a brief education here. When they attribute a coin to a certain die, am I wrong in thinking that of someone made a copy of an actual coin that it would have the same die attributes as the original?

Wow that is huge find and news...thanks for posting bobby.

These were always out of my price range even in the good old days and therefore never analyzed any but they probably have antimony, copper and/or bismuth with the high tin to harden the metal for striking/circulation.

I see antimony common with many so-called tin metals. All these three elements: Sb,Cu and Bi have this hardening properties with pewter.

John Lorenzo
Numismatist
United States

Yes, you're exactly right. However, the die features involved don't lend themselves well to duplication. Too small - little die scratches, cracks, doubling, things like that. They're usually easy to catch if you have the counterfeit in-hand.