A History of American Currency Author:William Graham Sumner Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. Excerpt from book: Section 3textit{THE "PINE-TREE" COINAGE. Coin was now coming in freely by the trade with the West Indies. The buccaneers also spent a great deal of their booty in the colonies, but it all just a... more »s steadily went out. In 1652 Massachussets set up a mint at Boston to coin this metal and try to keep it in circulation. They coined shillings, sixpences, and threepences, and continued to do so for many years, but, as it was a breach of the prerogative to coin, they dated all the coins 1652. The coins were to be of sterling alloy, H fine, and the shilling worth xod. sterling. The mint master had i5d. in 2os. for coining. As silver was worth 5s. 2d. sterling per oz., if the New England shillings had been equal to xod. sterling each, silver should have been worth 6s. 2^d. New England currency per oz., but as the mint master kept i5d. out of every 2Os., silver was worth 6s. 7d. New England currency per oz., if the coin was up to its own standard. It would therefore have been 22 per cent. worse than sterling. The English Mint declared it not cf even weight or fineness, and ifwas taken in England only at 25 per cent. disŤ count. The normal rate, therefore, was 6s. 8d. per oz. The law forbade exportation on penalty of forfeiting all visible estate. Of course this restrained but it did not prevent it. This currency, known as the "pine-tree" currency, forms the standard by which calculations were made from this time on. Meantime the barter currency was continued, and another act passed in 1654 provides that all contracts in kind shall be so satisfied. In 1655, a constable brought cattle to the treasurer for taxes which were so poor that he would not take them. In 1657 another prays for relief because, having taken boards for taxes, the treasurer would not allow him as much as he allowed for them. In 1658 it was ordered that no...« less