Three Coin Mints of New Jersey: The Legal Tender "Horse Head Coppers" Made By Elizabeth, Rahway, and Morristown Facilities

Just about everyone knows that the little initials "P, D and S" on U.S. coins are mint marks denoting that the particular coins were minted in Philadelphia; Denver, or San Francisco. But not many people know that once there were also three coin-producing mints in New Jersey.

Living in one of the 13 original American colonies, as I do, one can not travel very far before passing a roadside marker, monument, or town with a historic revolutionary war name. And in New Jersey, where most of the Revolutionary War was fought, and a goodly number of movers and shakers of the period resided, the possibilities of being exposed to roadside history abound.

I have resided in Union County, site of The Battle of Springfield and two of New Jersey's Colonial Mints, Rahway and Elizabeth. The third is in Morristown, Morris County. None is more than 30 minutes from my home. More than two decades ago this fortunate proximity prompted a field trip to locate the three Colonial mints. It also helped enrich my appreciation for the Horse Head Coppers made at these sites and to nurture that branch of my collecting. I couldn't resist the temptation to includ a New Jersey Horse Head Copper as a device to identify an enemy agent in one my novel The Ardennes Tapes.

For those not familiar with U.S. colonial coins perhaps some background would be helpful.

After Independence in 1776 and before the Constitution in 1789 gave the franchise to mint coins to the Federal government, six of the 13 former colonies minted their own coins, among them: New Hampshire in 1776; Massachusetts, 1776; Connecticut 1785; New York, 1786; New Jersey, 1786; Vermont, 1786.