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1776 Continental Currency- Real or Fake??
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87 posts in this topic

I am pretty sure this is a fake but thought I would put it out here to be sure. I found this in the bottom of a drawer from my deceased grandmothers home. It looks more silver in real time than this picture. The photo makes it look brass. Currency is spelled with only one "R" so I'm pretty sure that is a telling sign of it being fake.

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Edited by Tish
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There are real ones with only one R, so that isn't telling. However, the crude quality, rough texture, and wrong metal are clues. We just had another thread about this kind of coin. They must have been very popular at some point!

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Unfortunately, this is a very low-quality, cast replica.

 

That's probably about the worst I've ever seen. When I was a kid, in the 60's, the ones they sold at the local museum were much nicer.

 

Paul

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On 12/26/2016 at 10:50 PM, planman2014 said:

One of these days somebody is going to call or email me about a 1776 Dollar and it be real......one day.

I have a pewter 1776 that has only one r and want to sell it if it real.

 

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It's a replica as others have pointed out.  It wasn't made to fool collectors.  Rather it was made as a souvenir to be sold at gift shops at historic sites to tourists looking for a memento of their visit.

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22 hours ago, Metalmomma2011 said:

How about this, replica as well? 

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I'm certain an example exists with a complete set of beads/dentils around the rim, but far and few between come like this, so I would be suspect immediately until proven elsewise. 

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I have one of these coins that I have been holding onto, not knowing much about it. I am going to assume with the probability of it being real, that this too is a replica? For some reason the coin looks more like its got a copper tint, but the color in the bottom photo is correct. I am thinking it is Pewter, but like I said, I really am not sure.

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Recent information about the “Continental Dollars” in “The Numismatist” (January and July issues) are making the real thing less attractive. Research shows that these pieces were Revolutionary War commemorative medals that were issued from England in the early 1780s after the war ended. They were not issued as part of the Continental Currency series at all. Therefore these pieces were never “money.” They were the product of a business venture to capitalize on the end of the American Revolutionary War.

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It will be interesting to see if there is any change in future prices of these pieces. Goodness knows big money is spent on other "colonial" tokens that were made in Britain as advertising pieces or for collectors.  

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I can't see how the prices will not be effected by the information that has come to light recently. I know I am glad that I did not get involved with this issue, although I did seriously consider it.

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My thoughts after having read the January article only:

The evidence seems very convincing, though it is quite patchy and circumstantial. I'm disappointment they did not present any evidence to suggest when these pieces were actually made, or by whom. It remains possible they were made during the War, it not by the Congress, then perhaps for the Congress to consider. What if the coins sent to the Chemist were silver versions, and the pewter are restrikes? Perhaps they were hidden away by whomever made them, during the war, and they reappeared around 1783. Or, if the small flyer was issued to accompany them as medals, we now have a new So-Called Dollar listing to submit, HK-0, which will be the most valuable So-Called Dollar ever made and could be a boon to medal collectors everywhere.

In my opinion, because we never knew where they came from, their having been mentioned and discussed by founding fathers really helps, and not hurts, their appeal. Finally, I do not believe that base metal currency would have been accepted as money, certainly not as a "dollar." Early Americans were very sensitive about their underweight coppers. Even medals of inferior metal were less appealing at the time.

We'll see what I think after reading July!

Edited by coinman1794
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On 7/10/2018 at 12:28 AM, coinman1794 said:

their having been mentioned and discussed by founding fathers really helps, and not hurts, their appeal

 

I missed this, was it in the article? 

One thing that we can deduce from the pop reports is that this was an experiment (or experiments) that didn't go anywhere. Not many have been graded and those tend to be in better states of preservation, including many graded as MS. 

We may never know why they were made or by whom, but it looks like some more sleuthing in England is in order. 

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I said this because I was considering the possibility that the Robert Morris prototype in silver was a Continental Dollar. I guess I read that into the text. What was his coin, though?

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A very sensible summary coinman. One thing that I would bet money on (not a lot) at this juncture is that these pieces are not historically significant, which we all thought they were back in the day. They might make for a good story, perhaps already do. 

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I read the January article with great interest (I haven't read the July article yet). 

I thought the author's arguments in the January article were quite convincing. I still think these pieces are interesting artifacts, but nowhere near as important as we've been led to believe. 

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