Obverse: The Goddess of Liberty, seated upon a globe, facing right; in her fully extended left hand she balances the scales of justice; the right hand supports a liberty staff, bearing a flag and crowned with a cap. Legend: “IMMUNIS COLUMBIA.” Exergue: 1787.
Reverse: An eagle, displayed; right talon, an olive branch, thirteen leaves; left talon, thirteen arrows. Legend: “E PLURIBUS UNUM.” Borders, serrated; edge, plain; size, 16½; weight, 135 grains.
Massachusetts Pine Tree Shilling.
“John Hull and Robert Saunderson were equal officers in the ‘gainful business’ of the Mint. How much they coined in all for the colony, or the exact amount of their profits under the contract they carried out, cannot be determined.” The coinage was certainly large in amount, and they, as was well understood, became men of wealth and substance. When the daughter of John Hull was married to Judge Samuel Sewall, the founder of the town of Newbury, Mass., the prosperous mint-master gave the bride a dowery of her weight in silver. At the conclusion of the wedding ceremony, a large steel-yard was brought into the room, and the blushing bride placed upon one of the platforms of the same, while into a tub upon the other side were poured the Pine Tree Shillings, until the steel-yard balanced.
Chain Cents.
These have a bust with flowing hair, looking right, with the date below and word “LIBERTY” above it; on the reverse side, in the centre, is “ONE CENT,” with “⅟₁₀₀” below it, enclosed in an endless chain of fifteen links, typifying the number of States then in the Union. The legend is “UNITED STATES OF AMERICA” in all excepting one die, which reads “UNITED STATES OF AMERI,” the engraver evidently not having room to complete the word.
The Myddelton Tokens.
Obverse: A figure, representing Hope, beside an anchor; she presents two children to a female, the last extending her right hand in reception of the charge; the left hand supports a liberty staff, which is crowned with a cap; in front of the figure with the staff is an olive branch and a wreath, to the rear a cornucopia. Legend: “BRITISH SETTLEMENT KENTUCKY.”
Reverse: Britannia, seated disconsolate amid the down-cast emblems of her power, and facing left; her head is bowed; she holds in her right hand an inverted spear, the head of which penetrates the ground; at her right side a bundle of fasces or lictors’ rods have fallen near the cap of Liberty; upon the ground, before the figure, are the scales of justice, upon which Britannia has set her left foot and the sword of justice, with broken blade; the left arm of the figure rests upon a large shield, bearing the cross of the British ensigns. Legend: “PAYABLE BY P. P. P. MYDDELTON.”