May 27, 2020 Founders & Patriots
This lot is closed for bidding. Bidding ended on 5/27/2020
The obverse of this 28 mm diameter, copper, die-struck token displays a bust left of Pitt with a surround consisting of the legend "THE RESTORER OF COMMERCE 1766" above and "NO STAMPS" below. The reverse shows a ship a sea with full sails and flags waving with the word "AMERICA" written diagonally in front of the ship's bow. Around the rim is the legend "THANKS TO THE FRIENDS OF LIBERTY AND TRADE." It weighs approximately 87 grains. Secretary of State William Pitt, with the backing of several British manufacturing and merchant interests, took up the colonists' cause against the hated Stamp Tax Act, which was repealed on March 11, 1766. Following the repeal Pitt was hailed as the defender of the colonies and the minting of commemorative tokens or coins appear to have been done to commemorate the repeal. In 1859 Montroville Dickeson in his The American Numismatic Manual stated the dies for the Pitt tokens were made by James Smither, an attribution that has continued in the numismatic literature. Smither was an English born gunsmith and engraver who worked in Philadelphia during the 1760's-1770's. Approximately the size and weight of an English 1/2 penny, it appears that these copper tokens were circulated as currency, based on the wear evidenced on most known examples. CONDITION: very good to fine overall, with only a slight loss of detail from rubbing. JLK