The Freeman 1972 - The Ludwig von Mises Institute

436 THE FREEMAN JulyAn Honest AssayInto Hull's small mint camesilver buttons, tankards, goblets,knives, old sword hilts, spoons andEuropean coins to be assayed,melted down and converted intothe Pine Tree Shilling. Bullionfrom Peruvian mines, sometimestaken by privateers from Spanishgalleons, found its way to theBoston melting pot as well.Often the pieces to be meltedcontained a higher percentage ofsilver than the finished coins,which were alloyed with copper,so an honest assay was important.To determine the silver content ofthe variously shaped family piecesbrought into their shop, the twomen used the technique developednineteen hundred years earlier byArchimedes: the pieces to bemelted were \veighed, then submergedin a tub of water whichwas filled up to an overflow spoutso that the object spilled its exactvolume of water into a measuringvessel beneath the spout. Giventhe volume of the object and itsweight, the minters computed thepercentage of silver it contained.Their fee was handsome - theykept one out of every twenty shillingsminted plus wastage - buttheir risk was great as well, forthough they were providing amuch needed service, they werealso turning their backs on a restrictionimposed by the Englishgovernment which expressly forbadeprivate coinage in the colonies.Risky it may have been, butthe Bostonians were ever an independentlot, and they neededhonest coinage in their commerce.With reliable coins of intrinsicvalue, hard work by the colonistswas more easily rewarded. Merchantsand artisans could sell theirgoods or labors rather than barter,and they could save the coins theyreceived until they wanted tospend them. So useful and popularwas the Pine Tree Shilling thatthe English government chose toignore its existence rather thanattempt to suppress its circulation;an important early steptoward independence was taken129 years before that fateful Aprilmorning in Lexington.After the American Revolution- and both before and after theConstitution - private minterssupplied Americans with coins ofintegrity, and thousands of merchantshave minted private tokensto be used in their transactions.But the proud silver coin - thePine Tree Shilling - was the first.And like so much that emanatedfrom the first generations of NewEnglanders, it was honest, independentand reliable; an importantpart of our free-market heritage.~