6 Grams Of Silver

Currently in the wallet are a 1654 Commonwealth shilling and a ca 1640 Charles I sixpence. These are the first hammered coins I've owned, and it's a pleasure to carry them. Not coins of great beauty though, either in design or condition. I like them for what they represent: 1 gram of silver to the halfgroat, 3 grams to the sixpence and 6 grams to the shilling. When Charles was overthrown by Cromwell and the Roundheads, the royal portrait came off the coins and was replaced by a shield. In spite of having their world turned upside down, England carried on at 6 grams to the shilling. On the other side of the Atlantic, the colonists in Massachusetts were inspired to issue their own coinage, in the form of the Pine Tree shilling. Again, no portrait and with a solitary date of 1652. Being a colonial coin, the weight was somewhat debased so that it wouldn't compete with the English coinage. [I'd carry one of the Mass. shillings instead of the English if it weren't for the stratospheric price - I've seen a 1/4 cut bit at $900, 4x the price of a whole English coin].

Then came 1660. With Cromwell dead, the Puritans were tossed out and the monarchy was restored. Over in Massachusetts the Puritans began a long period of brooding, culminating in the American Revolution 115 years later. Tumultuous times gone by, preserved in dusty books and a few hammered coins....

Compared to modern coins, the hammered coins have a different feel to them. They're more like the metal in a tin can lid - thin and not quite flat. A shilling weighs the same amount as a modern quarter, but is the diameter of a half dollar. They're not round, and are missing parts of legend due to clipping and mis-strike.