Label
Coin, 1880-1900
Dana Bickford (1833 - 1909)
Quechee, Vermont
Aluminum, brass
Gift of Ruth R. Smith, 2010.39.2ab
Dana Bickford was born in Quechee when that town was a hotbed of mills and manufacturing, and at various points in his life described himself as both an inventor and an entrepreneur. His biggest success was with an automatic knitting machine that he and several other partners manufactured in Brattleboro in the late 19th century.
This universal coin was one of Bickford's side inventions. After a trip to Europe, he became frustrated with the constant need to exchange currency at each international border, and developed this coin as a solution. In theory, the coin would take on a different value in each country, represented by the amount of base metal (gold and silver) present in the coin. Those values are engraved on the coin itself, relative to the US dollar. Bickford's choices, needless to say, prioritize some countries over the other and assume an international currency exchange that was extremely stable.
Bickford was not alone in attempting to create universal currency; many others had floated the theory or even gone so far as to create coins. None have been successful. Interestingly, Bickford's coin also attempts to heal another monetary divide: it claims to "heal all differences between gold & silvermen," referencing the raging debate in the latter part of the 19th century about whether US currency should be based on the gold or silver standard.