1 Farthing - Mark Newby

Mark Newby emigrated from Dublin to West New Jersey in 1681, bringing with him a quantity of Irish copper halfpence and farthings struck for the St. Patrick coinage — a privately issued series produced in Dublin during the 1660s. In 1682, the West New Jersey General Assembly passed legislation making Newby's coins the first currency officially sanctioned by a legislative body in American colonial history, legal tender for payments up to five pence.

The farthing denomination was distinguished from the halfpenny by a small brass plug inserted into the die — not all examples retain it, and unplugged survivors generate ongoing debate among specialists about whether the plug was lost in circulation or never struck in the first place.