Quote:On March 13,1776 a joint committee of the New Hampshire legislature appointed to confer on the expediency of making copper coins entered their report. They stated William Moulton should be authorized to make copper coins at the current British standard weight, which was just over 153 grains. The report stated:
The Committee humbly report that they find it expedient to make Copper Coin, for the Benefit of small Change, and as the Continental and other Bills are so large that William Moulton be impowered to make so many as may amount to 100lb w.t subject when made to the Inspection and Direction of the General Assembly, before Circulation. Also we recommend that 108 of said coppers be equal to one Spanish milld [milled] Dollar: That the said Coin be of pure Copper and equal in Wt to English halfpence, and bear such Device thereon as the Genl Assembly may approve. (Crosby, p. 175)
On June 28 the New Hampshire legislature passed an act stating a copper coin would be made in the colony having a pine tree and the motto AMERICAN LIBERTY on one side and a harp design with the date 1776 on the other. The copper was to weigh five pennyweight and ten grains, that is 130 grains. It would be distributed by the Treasury in quantities not exceeding œ1000 in exchange for local paper currency at the rate of three coppers for two pence lawful money, which equaled the standard Massachusetts rate of 18 coppers per shilling. (the act, which was not clearly written, is found in Crosby, p. 176) Lawful money refers to the colony's paper currency, which was issued at the proclamation rate (6s to the Spanish American dollar). It has been suggested the harp design was probably based on the then current $7 continental currency bill which carried a Latin motto that can be translated as "The larger (harp strings) are harmonious with the small," -- a clear allusion to the union of the smaller and larger colonies.
At lease five variations of the New Hampshire coin are known, two of which carry the date 1776 on the obverse and the initials W. M. on the reverse. Some of these pieces may be unique while others are found in only a few examples. Examples of the varieties are plated in Breen, the Garrett Collection Sale and the Norweb Collection sale as cited in the bibliography below. It should be noted several modern reproductions of these coins exist. The pieces with the W.M. initials are now thought to be of doubtful origin and have been removed from the current edition (51st 1998) of R.S. Yeoman, A Guide Book of
United States coins,p. 38. In 1996 Dan Freidus explained one variety had been fabricated by C. Wyllys Betts in the early 1860's. That variety has an obverse containing a tree with the legend AMERICAN LIBERTY and a reverse with a harp. Freidus has illustrated an example of the coin as well as the dies from which it was made. The authenticity of the other pieces have also been questioned; currently there is no consensus on which, if any, may be authentic. It is generally thought Moulton prepared some cast patterns but the coin never went into production.
Posted 08/13/2008 3:37 pm
Those are certainly the lower rungs of pressure-cast fakes. Worth $1 at most, or perhaps $5 for all. 
