>From a somewhat long (some might say too long) acquaintance with the account book collection in The Connecticut Historical Society, I can attest to the fact that such books from the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries are full of entries in both the new American dollar currency and the older English system, often side by side in the same book. I would add, however, that the entries in account books may not represent hard money, as would the figures for an admission price to a play. In the account books, the entries are just as likely to indicate barter values, as they usually did.
Everett Wilkie
exlibris@library.berkeley.edu wrote:
> [I'm posting this answer from an Exlibris non-subscriber, Richard Doty at the Smithsonian, to whom I referred this question. --Diane Shaw]
English money was indeed being used in New England - or rather, an English reckoning system was still in use. While there were American coins (half cents to ten-dollar gold pieces, or eagles), and while the Mint had been striking them since the beginning of 1793, not many had been made up to the end of the nineties, and older systems of reckoning were still in force in many places. Does your broadside include an engraving or image, or is it completely type? If it has an image, one might be able to snag its identity by the quality of the artwork. Incidentally, the shillings/pence listed by way of prices EXACTLY correspond with what sterling was tabbed at against the dollar; I'm inclined to think that the broadside's American.
Sincerely,
Richard G. Doty
Curator of Numismatics
Smithsonian Institution
dotyr@nmah.si.edu
S. Diane Shaw
Special Collections Cataloger
Smithsonian Institution Libraries
NHB 30
Washington, D.C. 20560
Phone: (202) 357-3161
Fax: (202) 786-2866
Email: shawd@sil.si.edu
SIL homepage: http://www.sil.si.edu