Coin Chronicles
The Newsletter of the Trenton Numismatic Club
December 2015
On a Cold December Day
-Ray Williams
The story of a hidden treasury and
a loose-lipped barmaid is eclipsed
by George Washington’s crossing
of the Delaware River.
Since I have an affinity for the
numismatics of our colonial and
confederation periods, it should
come as no surprise that I also
have developed an interest in the
history of those days. The year
1776 is dear to me and many of my
like-minded friends. Nationally,
we celebrate that momentous year
every July 4, but in Trenton, New
Jersey, we mark it every December with a reenactment of George
Washington’s crossing of the Delaware River.
Most readers know about
the Battle of Trenton, during
which Washington and his army
crossed the river, surprised the
Hessian garrison, and achieved
an overwhelming victory on the
morning of December 26, 1776.
However, few are aware of the
events concerning the British
Army’s arrival in Trenton, New
Jersey, earlier that year.
In This Issue:
Cover
Ctd.
4
Show Schedule
2
Presidents Message
2
California Fractional Gold
3
Meeting Schedule
4
On a Cold December Day
Happy Holidays!
Volume 33 Issue 12
When an army moved
by foot and wagon, word of its
pending arrival traveled much
faster than the army itself. In late
November or early December
1776, New Jersey State Treasurer
Samuel Tucker met with farmer
John Abbott in a tavern in Trenton.
Knowing the British were on their
way, Tucker asked Abbott to hide
the New Jersey State Treasury
and papers at the latter’s farm to
prevent capture by the army when
it arrived, and Abbott agreed.
Little known to them, a barmaid
overheard their conversation...but
more about her later.
and pictured Benjamin Franklin’s
leaf-print design in the center.
The Royal Arms were displayed
on the front left, and the top and
side devices displayed elaborate
rep¬resentations of the denomination, again to deter counterfeiting and to discourage raising the
stated value.
As New Jersey treasurer, Tucker
possessed sheets of New Jersey
bills authorized by state legislation on February 20, 1776. Once
printed, the sheets were delivered
in equal amounts to the two signers. After the first signatures were
added, the signers exchanged the
sheets and placed their signatures
below the first one. The stacks
were then given to the treasurer,
who was directed to add his name
to £1,000 worth of notes at a time
and use them as needed to carry
out state business. In West Jersey,
the authorized signers were John
Hart (a Declaration of Independence signer), Samuel How (Burlington County deputy for the
Provincial Congress) and Samuel
Tucker (treasurer). In early December, the treasury consisted of
bills signed by two and three men;
only notes with three signatures
were usable.
This emission of bills (the
first since 1764) represented four
authorized denominations: 6
shillings, 15 shillings, 30 shillings
and £3. As an anticounterfeiting
measure, the rag-paper notes
featured the watermark new
jersey and incorporated reflective
mica flakes. The bills’ fronts were
printed in black and red ink, while
the backs were rendered in black
But back to the barmaid.
Her name was Mary Pointing, a
Loyalist and probably the wife of
a British Army officer. (Loyalists
supported King George III and not
the Revolutionary cause.) When
the British Army entered Trenton
on December 8, 1776, Pointing
revealed the location of the State
Treasury to a British officer!
On December 9, 1776, Lieutenant Thomas Hawkshaw, under the
command of Lieutenant Colonel
Robert Abercromby, marched 20
troops for about
5 miles to Abbott’s estate, where
they searched the farmhouse. The
soldiers found a trunk in the attic
that contained the partially signed
notes. The fully signed bills, hidden in the basement and stashed
in the bottom of a bin covered
with broken pottery, went undiscovered.
It should be noted that a
British document of protection for
John Abbott was issued on December 9 on behalf of Colonel Rall and
signed by General William Howe’s
aide-de-camp, Captain Friedrich
von Muenchhausen. To receive
immunity, Abbott likely took some
type of loyalty oath to the British
after the documents were found in
his residence.
Continued on Page 4
Coin Chronicles
December 2015
TNC’s 64th Year
Volume 33 Issue 12
The Newsletter of the Trenton Numismatic Club
COIN SHOW SCHEDULE
By Bill Liatys
January 2016
LOCAL SHOW SCHEDULE
PARSIPPANY January 10th at Sunday 9 AM – 4 PM
BURLINGTON January 10th Sunday 10 AM – 4 PM
Burlington Mason Lodge Route 541 Burlington, NJ
TREVOSE January 17th Sunday 10 AM – 4 PM
Trevose Fire House 4900 Street Road Trevose, PA
TRI-STATE COIN & STAMP SHOW January 24th Sunday 10 AM – 4 PM
Williamson’s Restaurant 500 Blair Mill Road Horsham, PA
WHITMAN COIN & COLLECTIBLES March 31 – April 3 Thursday – Sunday
Thursday – Noon – 6 PM Friday – Saturday - 10 AM – 6 PM Sunday – 10 AM – 3 PM
Baltimore Convention Center One W. Pratt Street
Baltimore, MD
61st ANNUAL FUN SHOW January 7 – January 10 Thursday – Sunday
Thursday – Saturday 10 AM – 6:30 PM Sunday – 10 AM – 3 PM
Tampa Convention Center 333 South Franklin Street Tampa, Florida
WILMINGTON COIN CLUB OF DELAWARE January 14 – January 16 Thursday – Saturday 10 AM – 6 PM
Nur Shrine Temple 198 South DuPont Highway New Castle, Delaware
President’s Message
By Andrew Waholek
Hello to all! I hope everyone has had a wonderful month and Happy Holidays to you! We will be
having our annual holiday party at this months meeting. The pizza order has been placed and is
scheduled to be delivered. There will be no speaker this month. I would really like to see everyone
mingle and enjoy some new conversations. Please still feel free to bring some items for show and
tell though. Or bring some coins for trade or sale!
We will be holding officer elections at our meeting for the upcoming 2016 year. Also, we still need
articles for the newsletter. This month’s meeting will be located in rooms 3 & 4 of the lower level
in the Hamilton Public Library at 7:00PM on Monday December 21st 2015. I hope to see everyone
there and in good spirits! Until then…….
Page 2
Coin Chronicles
December 2015
TNC’s 64th Year
Volume 33 Issue 12
The Newsletter of the Trenton Numismatic Club
California Fractional Gold
--Harry Garrison
The discovery of gold in January
of 1848 by James Marshall at Sutter’s Mill caused one of the greatest and most frantic stampede in
all of history. It brought thousands
and thousands of gold seekers to
San Francisco from all over the
world. That one word – Gold –
spread like wildfire throughout
the country. The quiet, sleepy
Spanish village of San Francisco became overnight a roaring,
seething beehive of people. Sailors
deserted their ships, men everywhere abandoned their businesses
and jobs in hopes of realizing great
fortunes by mining gold. By the
summer of 1849, San Francisco
was exciting, successful cosmopolitan city.
With thousands of people figuratively pouring into an area where
only a few had existed less than
a year ago, the problem of monetary exchange became a serious
problem almost overnight. Evan
the money of many different
nations, readily available, was not
sufficient to satisfy the need for an
immediate need for a circulating
currency medium. Gold dust and
nuggets exchanged freely, but not
always to the satisfaction of all involved. There could be considerable variation with each transaction.
In July of 1848, a group of prominent men in San Francisco petitioned George Mason, the Military
governor of California to permit
gold dust and nuggets to be used
to pay for custom duties. His
response was “ I have no hesitation saying that if the California
gold dust in this country is that
abundant then I would have no
problem if it can be wrought into
a convenient shape so as to act as
a substitute for gold and silver
coin”. His response triggered
pioneer coinage history, for it
encouraged the coinage of the eagerly sought private or California
territorial gold coins. A few month
later, around the end of May 1849
there appeared the first of many
pioneer gold coinage.
nia fractional gold coinage pages
in the Coin Digest are attached.
The difficulties encountered in the
collecting of this series are numerous. Finding a book that details all
of the denominations and carries
a picture of each variety are not
common. The least expensive and
the most complete is Krause’s U.S.
Coin Digest. Considerable doubt
concerning many issues has been
raised, as to what is real and the
many counterfeits that exist. No
“token” or “charm” issues are listed in the Digest; only the genuine
known varieties.
Many jeweler, engravers and
goldsmiths issued pieces, many
who have initials identifying their
work. The NR which appears on
some of the Dollars stands for
Nouizillet & Routhier. An FD
which can appear on both dollars and Half-dollars stands for
Frautier, Deviercy & Co. The N on
several dollar varieties stands for
Antoine Nouizillet. The “Deri” or
Derib” on octagonal dollars stands
for M. Deriberpe, while trhe “GG”
on half-dollars stood for Gaime,
Guillemot & Co. Some quarter
and half-dollar pieces have an “L”
thought to be William Lemme.
As in all coins series, counterfeits
exist but this is especially true of
the California fractional gold series. Much doubt has been raised
as to what is considered genuine
and what is not. Genuine piece or
original issues all have the word
“DOOLLAR” or “DOL” on the
coin itself. The fraction ( ¼, ½ )
alone does not mean the piece is
genuine.
If the collecting of California
fractional gold pieces is of interest
to you, I strongly urge you collect
only those pieces certified by NGC
or PCGS. Examples of the Califor-
Articles Wanted
If you have a topic
you’d like to be covered
in the Newsletter…
write an article or submit your idea.
Don’t be shy….do it.
All entries are welcome.
Articles will appear in
the Newsletter as soon
as possible and might
be edited for space consideration, not editorial
Page 3
Coin Chronicles
December 2015
TNC’s 64th Year
Volume 33 Issue 12
The Newsletter of the Trenton Numismatic Club
From Page 1
Ray Williams
In fairness to Abbott (and later to
Tucker), none of us can really say
what we would sign if our lives
depended on it!
Trenton Numismatic Club
President : Andrew Waholek
Vice-President: John Janeczek
Treasurer: Randy Ricco
Secretary: Joe Pargola
Sgt at Arms: Gary Elmer
Committees:
Bourse: Bill Liatys
Randy Ricco
Programs: Ray Williams
Newsletter: Joe Pargola
Auction: Bo Bobjak
Trenton Numismatic
Club is members of:
Tucker was captured
on December 14, and applied
for and was granted Brit¬ish
protection by Colonel Rall on
December 17. Eight days later,
Washington led his army in a
wonderfully successful surprise
attack on the Hessians stationed
in Trenton. Colonel Rall was
killed after being struck by a
musket ball and was buried in
an unmarked grave in a Trenton
churchyard. Tucker lived the
rest of his life under the cloud of
signing Rall’s document.
I can only imagine what
fun some soldiers on leave might
have had after confiscating
large quantities of money from
the ¬enemy! So in addition to
remembering -December 1776
for the Battle of Trenton, we also
can celebrate the capture of part
of the New Jersey State Treasury,
which gave us two distinctly different collectable bills to enjoy.
An old saying states that
those who don’t learn from
history are doomed to repeat it.
So what can we learn from this
story? Don’t conduct important
business in a tavern within earshot of
a barmaid!
As a member of the Colonial Coin Collectors Club, I urge
anyone with an interest in studying colonial currency to visit
www.colonialcoins.org.
Reprinted courtesy of The Numismatist, official publication of the
American Numismatic Association
(www.money.org)
New Jersey State Treasury bills required three
signatures to be valid.
John Abbott’s Hamilton, New Jersey, home
(above) served as the hiding place for the
New Jersey State Treasury. Only the right
half of the house existed in 1776. (The large
three-bedroom addition at the left was constructed in 1840.)
Articles
Please think about your interest and contribute an article or
idea that may interest our club
members.
Thank you!
Meeting Schedule
The Trenton Numismatic Club
meets on the fourth Monday of
each month at the
HAMILTON PUBLIC LIBRARY
ONE JUSTICE SAMUEL A. ALITO JR. WAY
HAMILTON , NJ 08619-3809
Mailing Address: T.N.C. P.O. BOX
8122 Hamilton, New Jersey 08650
Visit our Website:
www.trentoncoinclub.org
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