Why were so many foreign coins circulating in colonial America?
Great Britain did not allow the colonies to mint coins. Since the whole world revolved on a bullion-based system, as long as a coin was made of good silver or gold and was the proper weight, it didn’t matter whose picture was on a coin or what country had minted it. There was always a shortage of coin, so merchants and shopkeepers were not choosy in accepting a wide variety of different coins during business transactions.
