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.
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.