What's In The Pocket Today

I'm all for pocket pieces but why use coins that used to be high dollarish?

I'll trade you a nice shiny Ike for any of those coins.

The English Half Crown in particular was a "pocket coin" for a long time because of monetary policies in Great Britain. I read someplace that during the period immediately prior to 1800, that nearly all circulating silver coin in England was worn out older hand hammer coins because new full weight coins would have immediately been hoarded because of their silver content. That was why the government could turn to a token coinage without causing roits. The people had become use to the coins being worth less than face value.

England not only controlled access to silver in the Colonies but also in the homeland. Shorty therefater they also controlled the world silver price with a daily fix at London that didn't vary very often. I was not until the big silver strikes in the US after the Civil War that broke the English domination of world silver prices.

95 Ikes for the Charles I half crown would swing it, but it's not for sale. The strike on this one is pretty bad, even though it's full weight.

I am of the opinion that Spanish silver was one of the main causes of the English Civil War. The abundance of new world silver ("Plus Ultra" - "more beyond" the pillars of Spain) bought a lot of influence in Europe in the mid 1600's. Charles I resisted encroachments from the north in Scotland and rebellion to the west in Ireland, but it took a lot of money to fight the Hapsburg influence. Eventually the monarchy collapsed, leading to the short lived Commonwealth which brutally suppressed the dissenting Irish and Scotch.

thq, shouldn't that be "suppressed the dissenting Irish and Scots.", although you could be right as Cromwell and his bunch suppressed singing, dancing, drinking, in fact anything that makes life worth living.