Animals, animals. Do you love animals? They are popular collecting themes for world coins. Paupa New Guinea is one of the best countries to collect artistic images of exotic animals on their toea and kina coinage. Then there’s my favorite, the super-cool lyrebird on Australian 10 cent coins.
(Run-down on Paupa New Guinea coins: Here.)
(Run-down on Australia’s lyrebird coin: Here.)
A while back a guy named Robert inquired about his interesting piece of “Hog Money” from Bermuda. Now, I’ll admit that hogs are not as glamorous as lyrebirds, but Robert’s coin (below) has a lot of note-worthy characteristics.
Hogs played a key role in Bermuda's (formerly Sommer Islands’) early development. A book by Rosemary Jones tells the story.
The first hogs to live in Bermuda were sent ashore by Spaniard Commander Don Pedro Menendez de Avila who, in 1563, landed in Bermuda in search of his shipwrecked son. Unable to find him, Commander Menendez continued on to Florida, leaving hogs on the island as a food source in case they were shipwrecked on Bermuda on the way back. Good thinking!
In 1609, Sir George Somers, a British colonist from Virginia, was shipwrecked on the Bermuda Islands for 10 months. Relieved to find the Commander Don’s hogs there, the castaways hunted using the ship's dog to track them. Some hunts brought back 30 hogs in a week. By 1612 there were 60 colonists on the Islands and the earliest brass “hogge money” coins were struck by hand in 2, 3, 6, and 12 pence denominations (12 pence equals 1 shilling).
Later, in 1610, ships 'Deliverance' and 'Patience' set sail for Virginia from Bermuda. They found a sorry bunch of starving settlers in Jamestown when they got there. Of the 500 original settlers, just 60 had survived famine and disease of the 1609-1610 winter. The crews of Deliverance and Patience handed out salted hog and fish to sustain the weary settlers. No wonder hogs still play a colorful role in Bermuda tourism.
Robert’s coin - My best guess is that Robert’s coin is a modern replica made for tourists, and Robert agrees. But investigating these coins produces intriguing results.
Detectorists have uncovered a few of the early hand-struck coins. They are tremendously valuable, even in worn and corroded condition, as discussed below. After all, brass coins do not do well when buried in sand soaked in tropical sea water!
Even modern Bermuda coinage sports images of the famous hogs. Here’s a one cent coin dated 1971.
Further, Dickeson and Bashlow copies of the original coins have emerged and have garnered a collector following. Our composite image below summarizes a few of these pieces.
(A) Original shilling (XII), worth tens of thousands of US dollars
(B) Original sixpence (VI), worth tens of thousands of US dollars
(C) Original shilling, worth thousands of US dollars even in condition shown
(D) Dickeson reproduction, worth $200 US dollars worn to $800 or more uncirculated
(E) Bashlow restrike with 'mule' reverse, worth $10 worn to $100 fully uncirculated
(F) Nice reproduction, worth $10 to $50
(G) Crude reproduction shilling, worth $5 to $20
(H) Crude reproduction sixpence, worth $5 to $20