Boston Tea Party Collection

250 years ago, one of the defining events in America’s early history was the “Boston Tea Party” On December 16, 1773. To protest taxes imposed by the British – and specifically “taxation without representation” – patriots in Boston, Massachusetts, threw a ship’s cargo of tea into the harbor. Tea was highly taxed but was very popular with the Americans. This act of defiance inspired American colonists to support independence, and the American Revolution began in April 1775. This collection celebrates the Boston Tea Party with a coin that was popular in the American colonies at this time: the copper Duit from Holland that was struck over 225 years ago between 1726 and 1794. Because of its size and copper composition, it was known as a “Penny.” At this time, there was no unique United States coinage or U.S. Mint, so colonists used whatever coins they could find, including the copper Duit. The coin is accompanied by the set of four U.S. postage stamps issued in 1973 for the 200th anniversary of the Boston Tea Party. The stamps are in original mint condition and depict events from the Boston Tea Party. The stamps are now almost 50 years old and have been unavailable from post offices since 1973.