Maryland – Lord Baltimore Coinage – (1659)

The Four Denominations of Lord Baltimore Coinage

Cecil Calvert was the second Lord Baltimore. He controlled what is now the state of Maryland and he wanted to be one of the first to create his own coinage to use in this New World. So in 1659, he ordered 4-pence, 6-Pence and Shillings to be struck by the Royal Mint in London. He also had a copper penny called a denarium, which was the very first copper coin circulating in America.

Calvert expected that these coins would circulate throughout the Thirteen Colonies and become a preferred medium of exchange there. The coins were designed by Nicholas Briot who had samples struck at the Royal Mint. The sample coins were sent to Philip Calvert, Lord Baltimore’s brother, who served as the secretary for Maryland Colony.

Briot’s design had a portrait of Lord Baltimore on the obverse facing right on all four denominations but the reverse had differing designs. Although undated, the coins were struck in 1659.

 The Denarium Penny was made of copper and had a portrait of Lord Baltimore facing right. Inscribed around the periphery is: “CAECILIUS : Dns TERRAE-MARIAE” which translates from Latin into “Cecil, Lord of Mary’s Land.” The reverse depicted a duke’s coronet with two flags on it. It also is inscribed in Latin: “DENARIUM TERRAE-MARIAE” which translates into Denarius of Mary’s Land. The copper penny coin is extremely rare and only nine are known to exist, though it seems likely that more coins were struck.

The Silver Groat, or 4-Pence coin, had the same obverse as the penny coin, but the reverse depicts the arms of Baltimore, a Crown above a Shield. The denomination on the Groat is depicted in Roman numerals as “IV”, the Roman letters for the number 4.

The Maryland Six-Pence has the most surviving examples with less than 100 coins known. The design is the same as the 4-Pence, but this coin is larger and the denomination is stated as “VI”.

The final Maryland coin is the Maryland Shilling. It also carries the same design but is larger and bears the roman numerals “XII” for Twelve.

Although all of the coins were undated they were struck in 1659 – 1660 and distributed beginning in 1660. By the damn of the 18^th century, much of the Maryland coinage had vanished and it did not take over the Thirteen American colonies as Cecil Calvert had anticipated. Many surviving specimens are holed for suspension. There are numerous die varieties known for each of the silver coins.

Start a collecting journey with our exquisite assortment of rare U.S. coinage.