I'm hoping for assistance in identifying this small silver coin that I recently found while metal detecting near Newport, Rhode Island. I believe that it dates no later than late-17th Century and may have originated from India or somewhere in the Middle East. It is very close in size to a modern U.S. dime and very thin. The coin's features are still sharp enough that it can likely be identified by someone with specific knowledge that I hopelessly lack. It appears to have Arabic lettering on it.
The coin was found in a farm field where a colonial-period house once stood. This site produced an Oak Tree shilling (issued by the Massachusetts Bay colony, along with Spanish half-real cobs, English halfpence coppers, buttons, musket balls, buckles, spoon fragments, etc, and it all dates mid-17th Century to mid-19th Century. A lot of the finds date to the time of William & Mary, and the mystery coin is likely no exception. I believe it dates from the early 1690's.
The recovery of the coin in southeast New England is unexpected. Newport, RI had trade in shipping to the other colonies on the Atlantic seaboard, the Caribbean, and the west coast of Africa for slavery, but no one was trading to the Indian Ocean. So how did the coin get to Newport? I believe it was part of a haul in gold and silver, 100,000 pounds sterling, that arrived in Newport harbor aboard
the Amity, captained by Thomas Tew. He had a privateer's commission to attach French shipping but turned pirate and "went on the account" where no had ever gone previously. He was the first and certainly one of the most successful pirates to go to the Red Sea. He only took one ship, but the rich vessel belonged to the Great Mughal of India. The Mughal rulers were Muslims, but they ruled India for 300+ years. Every member of his crew earned 1300 pound sterling on the cruise, while some select crew members made a bit more. After a 22,000 mile cruise and 15 months at sea, they went home and arrived in Newport, where gold and silver coins along with plundered trade goods flowed into the local economy. As the coin was found only a few miles from Newport Harbor, I'm hopefully of it having come from Thomas Tew's pirate cruise. I hope that the coin can be identified and dates prior to arrival of
the Amity in Newport in 1694. Any assistance (full identification, information sources, or contacts) is greatly appreciated. Such a coin would certainly be a historically rich find. The coin shows little evidence of circulation, unlike Spanish cobs found on the site, which exhibit a good deal of wear and clipping by thrifty colonists.
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Posted 05/11/2014 11:41 pm
