Object Status:
Unlocated
Accession Date:
December 1775
Primary Source Reference:
Du Simitière Memorandum Books, Library of Congress, fol. 15r
Notes:
"Virginia halfpence of 1773 have the unique distinction of being the only fully authorized coins with legal tender status which were specifically minted for all or any part of the English colonies which became the United States of America" Eric P. Newman, "Coinage for Colonial Virginia"(1956) / http://numismatics.org/digitallibrary/ark:/53695/nnan10549
The donor, Robert Aitken (1734-1802), was a Philadelphia engraver, printer, and bookseller. His short-lived monthly, The Pennsylvania Magazine, for which Du Simitière provided a title page vignette, a map, and other drawings that were engraved, employed Thomas Paine as an editor. Aitken was, with Philadelphia carver and gilder James Reynolds, one of the appraisers of Du Simitière's estate.
