Will Whitfoot
Mintmaster
- Joined
- Sep 30, 2017
- Messages
- 124
I have long thought about the events of SR 1419 that were not covered in detail in the story. Of course, in the wider world the War of the Ring takes precedence. But in The Shire, the takeover of the mayoralty by "The Boss" Lotho Sackville Baggins, the incarceration of Will Whitfoot in the Lockholes, and the subsequent usurpation of Lotho's administration by Big Men under the authority of the new boss Sharkey is surely the most disturbing sequence of events since the Fell Winter of SR 1311.
Many details of this period have been hard to come by, but long and patient listening to old-folks telling tales by a winter's fire (lubricated with some fine 1420 malt and some Old Winyards) has brought new details to light. After mayor Will is locked up, the Boss quickly realized that one result was that the mint was shut down. With the mint facilities in Michel Delving turned over to lockholes, Ted Sandyman is put in charge of minting operations and the mint equipment removed to the new steam mill at Bywater. Under the administration of the Boss, all older silver and copper coinage was required to be turned in for new iron coins. The designs were changed to eliminate the tree that had always graced the obverse of every Shire coin, replacing it with a large stylized "S"... said by some to represent "Shire", by others to represent "Sackville", but most scholars believe that it represented "Sharkey" (or Sharku) all along. The denominations were changed from octal and duodecimal to decimal coinage, with 1p and 10p becoming the primary coins. The effort was relatively short-lived as it had been in operation only a few months before Frodo, Sam, Merry, and Pippin returned to put things to rights. The iron coinage was NOT well received by the Hobbitry, who referred to them as "orkies" (due to their similarity to old orkish iron coins still found from time to time, particularly in the North Farthing). And there was considerable resistance to the edict to turn in old coinage. Some of the iron coin did get into circulation, particularly around Hobbiton, Bywater, Frogmorton, and Waymoot. Artifacts of this period have been hard to come by as they were usually punched or drilled to make washers for wagons and carts. But it turns out that, in the clearing of the Bywater Mill and the restoration of the Mint to Michel Delving after the Scouring, a small cask of the iron coins was discovered. So it will be possible for collectors to obtain examples of them in the near future.
Many details of this period have been hard to come by, but long and patient listening to old-folks telling tales by a winter's fire (lubricated with some fine 1420 malt and some Old Winyards) has brought new details to light. After mayor Will is locked up, the Boss quickly realized that one result was that the mint was shut down. With the mint facilities in Michel Delving turned over to lockholes, Ted Sandyman is put in charge of minting operations and the mint equipment removed to the new steam mill at Bywater. Under the administration of the Boss, all older silver and copper coinage was required to be turned in for new iron coins. The designs were changed to eliminate the tree that had always graced the obverse of every Shire coin, replacing it with a large stylized "S"... said by some to represent "Shire", by others to represent "Sackville", but most scholars believe that it represented "Sharkey" (or Sharku) all along. The denominations were changed from octal and duodecimal to decimal coinage, with 1p and 10p becoming the primary coins. The effort was relatively short-lived as it had been in operation only a few months before Frodo, Sam, Merry, and Pippin returned to put things to rights. The iron coinage was NOT well received by the Hobbitry, who referred to them as "orkies" (due to their similarity to old orkish iron coins still found from time to time, particularly in the North Farthing). And there was considerable resistance to the edict to turn in old coinage. Some of the iron coin did get into circulation, particularly around Hobbiton, Bywater, Frogmorton, and Waymoot. Artifacts of this period have been hard to come by as they were usually punched or drilled to make washers for wagons and carts. But it turns out that, in the clearing of the Bywater Mill and the restoration of the Mint to Michel Delving after the Scouring, a small cask of the iron coins was discovered. So it will be possible for collectors to obtain examples of them in the near future.
