Learn About William Pitt and the Three Kinds of Pitt Tokens
William Pitt was an English politician who took up the cause of the Colonies at a time when it was unpopular in the 1760s. In order to pay its troops and vendors for the costs of the French and Indian Wars, the British Parliament imposed stamp tariffs on the American colonies on everything they bought from the mother country. Pitt, backed by a number of British manufacturing interests and a large group of merchant exporters, fought to repeal the Stamp Tax. Imposed in March of 1765, many in the colonies revolted and refused to pay the tax.
Pitt was instrumental, as was Benjamin Franklin, in convincing King George III in repealing these unfair taxes. Those in the Colonies were so appreciative that it was suggested that commemorative tokens honoring Will Pitt be struck. An American organization called the “Friends of Liberty and Trade” promoted these tokens.
The portrait of William Pitt is supposedly one that was based on sketches of him by the American Patriot Paul Revere. Although these were “tokens” they took on denominational status as actual money with the smaller size one equated to a Farthing and the larger size equal to a Halfpenny. The Farthings were struck in brass or copper and are rare, while the Halfpennies were all struck in copper and are much more plentiful.
The obverse of these tokens depicts a bust of William Pitt, facing left. Around his bust are the legends “THE RESTORER OF COMMERCE – 1766 – NO STAMPS.” The reverse depicts a sailing ship heading towards the word “AMERICA.” The periphery is inscribed with “THANKS TO THE FRIENDS OS LIBERTY AND TRADE.”
To this day, we are uncertain if the tokens were struck in England by merchants supportive of Free Trade or whether they were actually struck in the Colonies. We do know however that numerous British copper medals were struck in the 1760s honoring Pitt as the “RESTORER OF COMMERCE.”
It is unknown how many of the smaller or of the larger size tokens were struck but many are well-worn indicating that they did circulate within the Colonies and were used as coinage in the coin-starved Colonies. Small numbers of the larger-sized Halfpenny tokens were also silvered. We are unsure as to the rationale for doing so but they are very rare and command strong premiums over the non-silvered Halfpenny brothers.
| Date | Type | Mintage | G Value | AU Value |
| 1766 | Farthing | Unknown | $2,750.00 | $55,000.00 |
| 1766 | Halfpenny | Unknown | $350.00 | $3,000.00 |
| 1766 | Halfpenny – Silvered | Unknown | $1,000.00 | $5,500.00 |
Expand your collection today and find a 1766 William Pitt Copper Halfpenny AU-50 PCGS.
