Albany Church Pennies – (1790)

1790 Albany Church Pennies, a Tithing Coin

Prior to the US Mint beginning to strike copper coinage in 1793, there was a great shortage of these small coins. The shortage affected all types of merchants and it even affected churches whose parishioners were unable to find enough small change to fill the collection plates.

So the First Presbyterian Church of Albany, New York, did something to help their parishioners and to help the church. They had 1,000, uniface, copper tokens struck and they were distributed to any parishioners who wanted them at the rate of 12 to 1 Silver Shilling. 

There are two varieties of this very simplistic design. The first design simply has two words – CHURCH PENNY – “CHURCH” in block letters and “PENNY” in the script. The second design has the same two words but with a “D” Capital D in the script above.  Both varieties are undated, but were struck in 1790.

We are unsure as to why there are two distinct varieties of the Church Penny and what, exactly, was the significance of the “D” imprinted upon some of these coins. But there must have been some specific reason for the “D” to be included.

Some numismatists have speculated that the “D” is symbolic of “Penny” as DWT means “penny weight” while others have thought that the “D” may represent the last name of the pastor of the church at the time the coins were struck. While both theories are plausible, neither one is definitive.

Both varieties of the Albany Church penny are very rare today, with less than a dozen examples of each variety extant in the marketplace today. All examples of both varieties seen are in a well-worn state of preservation, signifying that these tokens served their purposes well.

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