1776 $1 Continental Dollar, CURRENCY, Pewter, EG FECIT MS67 NGC. Newman 3-D, Hodder 3-B, W-8460, Low R.4....

"In 1776, American Patriotism reached a fever pitch. The Revolutionary War was already well under way, and America's representatives felt confident enough to declare independence from Great Britain on July 4. To celebrate their newly found independence and to show the world that they were part of a sovereign nation capable of producing its own money, the Continental Congress initiated a plan to produce the first American coins."

"A number of patterns were struck in a variety of metals: brass, tin, copper, and silver. Quantities of circulating coins were made in a pewter-like alloy, with little intrinsic value but still more 'solid' than paper. America was unable to secure a loan of silver from the French; thus, there was no way to make the coins in that metal-if, indeed, it had been desired to do so. While the political dream of American independence eventually became a reality, the economic dream of an American coin faded into the background. Today, the only remnants of this dream are specimens of the 1776 Continental dollar that have survived the past 229 years [sic], mostly in pewter, but a few in other metals."

"The Congress in America had recourse to the same expedient; [the coinage of tin,] they coined several pieces of about an inch and half in diameter, and of 240 grains in weight; ... I estimated the weight of a cubic foot of this Continental currency, it was equal to 7440 ounces: this exceeds the weight of our best sort of pewter, and falls short of our worst; I conjecture that the metal of the continental currency consisted of 12 parts of tin and one of lead."