1783 Chalmers Shilling - Rings

Coin Details

Auction Record

$135,125 • XF40 • 01-2014 • Heritage Auctions

Description

Featuring a unique reverse design of interlocking rings found on no other Chalmers variety, this 1783 shilling is among the most celebrated rarities in American colonial coinage. Cataloged as Whitman 1415 and Breen 1002, struck in silver at 3.6 grams with a 22 mm diameter and plain edge (PCGS #597), the Rings reverse replaces the more familiar birds-and-worm motif with a pattern of interlocked circular bands whose symbolism may represent colonial unity or commercial interconnection. Only a few specimens are known, and the piece's auction history confirms its elite status: a specimen graded XF40 realized $135,125 at Heritage Auctions in January 2014, underscoring the extraordinary demand for this variety among advanced collectors. John Chalmers of Annapolis, Maryland, commissioned this coinage during the monetary crisis of 1783, and the Rings shilling stands apart from the Large Worm and Short Worm varieties by its entirely different reverse concept — suggesting either a deliberate design experiment or the work of a separate die engraver. This piece belongs to the Post-1776 Private and Regional Issues (1778-1820) series and regularly appears on lists of the most important American colonial coins, where its combination of extreme rarity, distinctive design, and documented auction performance places it alongside the Brasher Doubloon and other landmark pieces as a pinnacle of early American numismatics.

Rarity Notes

Extremely rare. Unique rings reverse design. Only a few specimens known.

Cross References

Whitman 1415; Breen 1002