Roger Sherman

[Zebo]

Does anyone know where the below Roger Sherman coin was minted and for how long? I haven't been able to find anything on it yet.

 

 

Sorry for the color - it is silver not green.

[RWB]

It's a silver token or medal, not a coin.

 

Given the awful engraving one might hope that few were manufactured in a 3rd world "art school."

[BillJones]

Unfortunately a lot of artwork on modern medals and tokens is very poor. As a collector of political American tokens from the late 18th century to the present, this is far from the worst I've seen.

 

Roger Sherman was an early American lawyer and politician from Connecticut. He was only founding father who signed all four of the major early American documents, the Continental Association, the Declaration of Independence, the Articles of Confederation and the Constitution.

 

This medal refers to the following notes made by Max Farrand who maintained the records of the Federal Convention of 1787:

 

Mr. Wilson & Mr. Sherman moved to insert after the words "coin money" the words "nor emit bills of credit, nor make anything but gold & silver coin a tender in payment of debts" making these prohibitions absolute, instead of making the measures allowable (as in the XIII art) with the consent of the Legislature of the U.S. ... Mr. Sherman thought this a favorable crisis for crushing paper money. If the consent of the Legislature could authorize emissions of it, the friends of paper money would make every exertion to get into the Legislature in order to license it."

Given the recent debacle brought on by the collapse of the Continental Currency, Sherman's position on this issue was perfectly understandable at the time.

 

My guess is that this piece is a fairly recent item that is opposing the current policies of the Federal Reserve System.

 

[Zebo]

It's neither a medal or token. I think it is a silver round that was produced in the 1970s or early 80s.

 

There was a legal battle during that time frame regarding paper money not being real money and that debts were to be paid in only gold or silver.

[RWB]

A "silver round" is a type of medal or token. It could just as easily have been produced as a rectangular bar or an oblate spheroid....the point being that it is not a legal tender coin.

[Zebo]

Ahh - thanks for the explanation. I'm not familiar with medals or tokens.

[BillJones]

A coin is a piece that has the sanction of a government that has a stated value that is recognized by commercial law. A token or medal is a piece with no official monetary value. The distinction between a token or a medal can be difficult, and sometimes depends upon size. It is purist form a token is a piece that stands for money without a formal legal sanction.

[DWLange]

There was a Roger Sherman Mint contemporary with the period that the Franklin Mint was still making coins and medals. The business took its name from the historical figure.

[Zebo]

I saw the Franklin Mint version which is not the same. I believe that this may be a special issue for a group of folks who were fighting a legal battle with the government on the constitutional grounds that all debts must be paid in gold or silver - something to do with taxes.