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Lot 35
1766 Pitt Token Halfpenny. PCGS graded MS-64 Brown. Glowing brown luster throughout, with no troubling spots or similar signs of age. The strike is typical on the obverse, with most of Pitt's curls bold, the reverse has minor weakness on the ships portholes, but most are present. A hint of streaky brown color on the obverse, while the reverse boasts an even and lovely brown color. We do note however, three faint scratches in the right obverse field, and another through the word STAMPS on the obverse. Certainly one of the finest of these important historical tokens, PCGS has graded only 2 this high, with a single coin graded higher. Most are found in much lower circulated grades, and just have few have been located in mint state. Nicer than examples in the Roper, Picker, Robison and Norweb collections, and as nice as the Garrett example. Struck slightly off center on the reverse, with the tops of the letters FRIENDS missing, as usually seen.
The Pitt token commemorates one of the most historic events that soon led to the American Revolution. King George III's Chancellor of the Exchequer, George Grenville, introduced the Stamp Act in Parliament in early 1765, where it passed without debate, in order to help pay for French and Indian Wars. Parliament was simply extending the British system of stamp duties to the American colonies. Neither Grenville nor his advisors had any idea that the Stamp Act would generate any opposition from the colonies in American (Breen).
Nevertheless, the Stamp Act included several provisions which the colonists saw as a threat. For instance, the Act required the purchase of tax stamps for every sheet of paper or parchment, hence every newspaper, broadside, almanac or like publication had to pay the tax or would be considered contraband. This implied the royal authorities were trying to tax local publications out of business, an attack on the freedom of the press!
As soon as copies of the Stamp Act arrived in New York by August of 1765, colonial assemblies started protesting. In Massachusetts, the radical Sons Of Liberty formed in secret to organize resistance, likewise in New York where the locals formed the Friends of Liberty and Trade club. Soon a Stamp Act Congress was called, and they met on October 7, 1765, with representatives from all 13 colonies, to coordinate action. Its major resolution declared that the Stamp Act and the related measures extended "the jurisdiction of the Courts of Admiralty beyond its ancient limits" and that Parliament had "a manifest tendency to subvert the Rights and Liberties of Colonists." The congress further resolved that "it is inseparably essential to the Freedom of a People, and the undoubted rights of Englishmen, that no taxes be imposed on them but with their own consent, given personally or by their representatives," and that the colonists "are not, and from their local circumstances cannot be, represented in the House of Commons." (Breen).
Soon the opposition to the Stamp Act was so great that the costs of enforcing it exceeded the meager income gained. Loyalists who used the hated stamps were boycotted, or even worse, some witnessed their houses burned to the ground. Many in Parliament were outraged, with such treasonous behavior rampant in the colonies, until Sir William Pitt, the most popular statesman in England and known as the "Great Commoner," defended the rebellious colonists and their opposition to the Stamp Act. Pitt spoke to Parliament in January of 1766 and stated "as subjects they are entitled to the common right of representation, and cannot be bound to pay taxes without their consent," and even demanded the repeal of the hated Act, which followed on March 18, 1766. So disgusted was King George III, that he dismissed his Chancellor of the Exchequer Grenville over the debacle.
Naturally, the colonists hailed Pitt as their Defender of Liberty, and various coins and medals were struck in his honor. The local New York group known as the Friends of Liberty and Trade had gunsmith James Smither engrave and issue this token, allegedly using sketches from Paul Revere, and they are thought to have been struck in either New York or Philadelphia.
One of the highlights of the Norris collection, and certain to be highly prized for generations to come.
Estimated Value $10,000-UP.
From the Paul Arthur Norris Collection.
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| Realized $6,900 |
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