Money may at first seem an unlikely venue for propaganda. But any coin in any pocket has a message. Whether a bust of George Washington reminding us that we were the first of the great revolutionary governments or a profile of Lincoln reminding us of the Civil War and our experience with slavery. Each coin has some meaning underlying the mundane utility of money.
In the first 100 years, the United States depicted Liberty on most coins. Colonialism was still strong elsewhere in theworld and such a reminder may have kept our own hatred for domination by the British Government alive. Other countries use their coins for propaganda and Britain was a master of the game when the United States was just a dream. One piece is the Rhode Island Ship Medal that was struck somewhere in England around 1779.
The British fearing Dutch intervention sought to sway public opinion in the Netherlands by issuing the medal, one that shows how poorly the American Colonists were waging war. The obverse shows the flagship of Adm. Sir Richard Howe at anchor. The reverse depicts a routed Colonial army fleeing three British ships. That Rhode Island on the medal is shaped like a hat and surrounded by water. It showed how little was known about American geography by both the English designer and the Dutch. Evidently, no one complained for the error was never corrected in subsequent mintings. Unfortunately for the British, most of their troops in Rhode Island were inactive. The British Gen. John Burgoyne surrendered in New York and Gen. Sir William Howe, the admiral's brother, retreated to New York. British soldiers, weary of war and afraid of further Colonial victories, assumed defensive postures.
The medal shows dates of 1779 on the obverse and 1778 on the reverse. Both were years of victories and defeats but the medal puts the best light on British accomplishments.
Today the medal survives in several forms. One type has a wreath below Admiral Howe's ship, while another appears without the wreath. Strangely the wreath appears as an attempt to cover a minting error.
The original medals were struck with the word ''vlugtende'' below Admiral Howe's ship. In Dutch, the word means ''fleeing,'' not the message the British hoped to send to their neighbors. So in most cases the word was scraped off the medal and the space was either left blank or later overstruck with a wreath. Some numismatists believe that the wreath was placed under the ship to obliterate any shadow of the original mistake. The pieces are found in copper, brass, tin and pewter. Until 100 years ago, they were not generally considered to belong in collections of Early American coinage. Today, those with the ''vlugtende'' are expensive and few have survived, but other varieties are less costly. The New York coin dealers, Stack's, show in their catalogue, a Rhode Island Ship Medal with neither wreath nor ''vlugtende'' in Choice About Uncirculated, a very high grade. Its price is $1,500.Continue reading the main story