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"This book is so well researched that I predict it will remain the definitive work on this subject for centuries." —Economic Historian.Net
Three hundred and fifty years ago‚ on September 1‚ 1652‚ John Hull and Robert Sanderson officially opened the Massachusetts Bay Mint in Boston‚ issuing the first coins produced in what is now the United States. The initial issue consisted of simple round planchets with NE punched on the obverse and the denomination on the reverse. These silver coins are highly prized by collectors‚ as can be seen in the prices realized from Stack’s auction of the Hain Family Collection of Massachusetts Silver in January 2002.
In celebration of the 350th anniversary of the opening of the mint‚ the Colonial Coin Collectors Club published John Hull‚ the Mint and the Economics of Massachusetts Coinage—an interpretation of original sources, resulting in a comprehensive history of the Massachusetts Mint from its founding in 1652. Using the surviving ledger of John Hull‚ Louis Jordan discusses production at the mint‚ investigating minting techniques, productivity and the profitability of the enterprise. Jordan also examines the political and economic factors that contributed to the rise and prosperity of the mint as well as the factors that led to its closing. The book also includes a commentary with illustrations on a discovery first announced by Stack’s in May of 2002 regarding an NE shilling that was overstruck as a Willow Tree‚ of which both the understrike and overstrike represent newly identified reverse dies.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
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LOUIS JORDAN is the Director of the Department of Rare Books and Special Collections at the University of Notre Dame, where he curates the ancient, medieval and numismatic collections. He is the author of the website The Coins of Colonial and Early America as well as the related sites Colonial Currency and Washington Tokens, all of which can be found at http://www.coins.nd.edu on the world wide web. He also serves as an associate editor for The Colonial Newsletter and has lectured and published on the Massachusetts Mint, Constellatio Nova coppers and other aspects of colonial numismatics.
The author was raised in Saugus, Massachusetts, and studied history at the University of Massachusetts in Boston, the University of Chicago and the University of Notre Dame, where he was awarded a doctorate in medieval studies. He has published an lectured extensively on a medieval topics and is a member of the Comite internationale de paleographic latine. He lives in South Bend, Indiana, with his wife Lorraine, their daughter Elizabeth and their son Louis.
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