Page:Economic History of Virginia Vol 2.djvu/519

 was to be found in Virginia at this time was most probably in possession of men who held official positions, positions which gave them an opportunity of acquiring whatever money sterling had been paid by the merchants and shipmasters. It is remarkable how small is the amount of coin appearing among the items of inventories even as late as 1670. Even where an estate was equal in value to several thousand dollars, it is exceptional if we find a few shillings. Among the few instances preserved in the records of the county courts were those of Robert Glascock of Lower Norfolk, whose inventory included two pounds and a half in coin; Mrs. Elizabeth Bushrod of York, who left at her death seven pounds sterling in the same form, and John Nilkson of the same county, who left only two pounds. Francis Wheeler, whose personal property when he died was valued at &pound;1123, bequeathed in coin only four pounds and a few shillings. By 1670, it had become extremely common to draw specialties in money sterling, but it is doubtful whether on maturing they were paid in this medium, the wording being only a precaution against the fluctuations in the value of tobacco.

Again, in 1680, the General Assembly were careful to prescribe the legal rates of the money sterling in circulation in Virginia. The French coin was estimated at six dollars; the piece of eight at six shillings, an advance of one shilling on its value as legal tender previous to the middle of the century; half-pieces of eight at three shillings, and one-quarter pieces at eighteen pence. The New England coin was to be held at one shilling. As no reference is made in this table to Virginian coins, it is to