After the re-coinage of 1816-1817 the British currency became practically in a short period of time, the "official" currency for the whole British Commonwealth.

With the financial crisis of 1825 and the restructuring of the British financial system, the government made its greatest attempt to introduce the Imperial silver and copper coins, imposing its use on the colonies regardless of local traditions or the existing economic conditions.

The reaction was mixed, but somehow the government achieve its purpose. Nevertheless the outcome, was an increase of demand for such currency, especially the sterling silver to the point that until around 1845, as much as half or more of the copper and silver coins minted by the Royal Mint were for this purpose.

As I mentioned before, many territories of the empire, required certain requirements regarding to meet the monetary circulation problems, which caused the coinage of new denominations within the British currency for some colonies in particular as is the case with the new third farthing for Malta [1827-1913] to replace the former local Grano [introduced before British Rule] the standard local currency equivalent to 1/12 of a penny and the new quarter and half farthing [1828-1856] for Ceylon [Sri Lanka], among others.

Arguably none were minted in silver, apart from the colonial Groat design of seated Britannia, as happened with the 1½ pence whose origin is explained in the next section.

The first attempt of emancipation of the British West indies colonies was proposed as early as 1787, but was not achieved until the Slavery Abolition Act 1833 [effective 1834] proclaimed by Parliament of the United Kingdom, abolishing slavery throughout the majority of the British Empire Territories and Possessions [surprisingly the Island of Saint Helena was not included].

Consequently the emancipation of black slaves, who began working primarily in the sugar plantations in the territories of the West Indies, and being newly wage earners required large supplies of small change coins to pay them with it, leading to the striking of a new denomination in the British coinage, the 1½ pence.

The initials supplies of 1½ pence proven to be so beneficial, that the Master of the Mint, according to some books, rewarded to each officer of the institution a turtle for their dinner, apparently an exotic dish at the time.

As of January 1834, there were over 250,000 emancipated slaves in Jamaica, but still indentured to their former owners in an apprenticeship system scheduled to go into operation in August which was intended to provide an easy and peaceful transition from slavery to freedom. It was expected that during this time the apprentices would learn especially in working regularly for wages.

It was the year 1838 when full emancipation for all was legally granted ahead of scheduled on August, in Jamaica and the rest of the British colonies, with the apprenticeship system [as explained earlier] abolished with it.

The newly emancipated black population and wage earners, who through the influence of the local religious organizations were extremely devout, considered it almost sacrilegious to place copper coins in the church collection plate, but also, they believe that such coins in the heat of the tropics after considerable handling develop an offensive and unpleasant odor.

Δ   The British copper farthing, half penny and the large penny coins, circulated during the period in which the 1½ pence coin was introduced in the different colonies.

They were rejected by the newly emancipated slave population, , which they had no confidence in them because of their non-silver metal alloy, failling as currency in many of the British colonies. Is curious to note that these coins lacked to show its face value in their reverses during the period in which this type was minted [1826-1859].

In view of this reluctance and the extreme poverty of their congregations, the Moravian, the Baptist and specially the Roman Catholic Church, taking a strong stance against slavery and because it was the primary religion in the area that would recognize slaves as members of the church, played a crucial role in approaching the House of Assembly persuading it to request special small denomination silver coins to the British Treasury which apparently was not considered by the members of the Assembly as an excuse at the time, to make such a request to England, made to see the Jamaican Senate, the one responsible for the introduction of the new coin.

The origin of the name "Christian quattie" so familiar among the old population in the island, can be directly traced back to the coins of Spanish coinage which incidentally continued to be legal tender in the colony for many years even during British occupation.

The basic Spanish unit for silver coinage was the Real, which while universally accepted at different exchange rates, it was issued in several denominations, being the higher equivalent to 8 Reales and its fractions the 4 Reales, 2 Reales, 1 Real, ½ of Real and ¼ of Real.

The 1 Real coin was considered as being equivalent to the English 6 pence in Jamaica and the rest of British colonies in the area. Consequently the 3 pence and 1½ pence were accepted as substitutes of Spanish ½ of Real and ¼ of Real among the local population, obviously we see how the smallest denomination coin immediately become known as "quartile", however the local emancipated slaves Patois-speakers [called Creole-speakers by linguists] pronounced it "quattie".

The black population, which were regular churchgoers, and as explained earlier considering copper coins inappropriate to be offered for collection in church and since most could not afford the higher denomination silver coins, on account of the specific need which these coins filled, they eventually were known as "Christian quattie", thus it become indigenous to this island.

But there were in colonial days other curious terms that were used for the 1½ pence and money in general, specialty in the rural districts and in town markets of course. At that time we could find a merchant spending his spare time between customers in wrapping up tiny packages of sugar and asked him if they were a penny-worth, which seemed small enough indeed at the time prices, since one three halfpence would purchase 3½ lbs. of sugar, but not, they were sold at a "gill", or three farthings. Two gills was equal to a "three ha'p'nnies" [or quattie]. A shilling used to be a "macaroni", a three pence was for some reason called "fippence", and occasionally the equivalent of thirty West Indian cents was referred to as a "mac an' fippence". Strange, but so was the popular vocabulary.

Δ   Close-up photo of a 1½ pence dated 1838, marked with the Roman number IV [outlined in yellow] which perhaps stand for quarter or quattie.

My hypothesis is that some inhabitants in Jamaica, marked a few of the tiny coins to avoid confusion with the acceptance of the coin or simply marked so as souvenir, but everything is speculative. Both the coin and the stamp are worn due to heavy circulation.

The Cathedral of St Jago de la Vega in Spanish Town, has national and regional significance as it is not only the oldest Anglican cathedral in the area, but is perhaps the oldest "spectator" that witness on the morning on August 1st, 1834 several slaves, welcomed the new day of freedom and provably the site where for the first time, the most popular coin among blacks emancipated, the three halfpence, was offered as tithe in continuous Christian worships in this hemisphere.

It was built sometime between 1661 and 1664 on the ruins of the Spanish Church of the Red Cross which had been destroyed by the invading British troops between 1655 and 1660. Completed in 1714, built of brick in the shape of a cross, using a rich mixture of medieval Roman and Gothic styles; while its tower is topped with the landmark rare steeple added in 1817.

Formerly know as Parish Church of St Catherine , was rebuilt and enlarged in the 18th and 19th centuries. Made the Cathedral of the Diocese of Jamaica shortly after the first bishop of Jamaica Rt. Rev. Christopher Lipscombe died on April 4th, 1843.

I wonder how many of these tiddlers ended up, beneath the pews, hidden in the cracks of the floor tiles, or just, in the pages of an old Bible, never to see the light of day.

Δ   Students from Saint Jago High School [formerly Beckford & Smith], walking in the surroundings of the Spanish Town Cathedral. Founded in 1744, is one of the oldest, continuously operated schools in the Western Hemisphere. [1]

There were some factors that bring to an end the three halfpence. The British government's biggest attempt to introduce the silver and copper coins into circulation in the Island was made in 1839, when an Act was passed which stated that:

"... as of 31 December 1840, the currency of Britain should be that of Jamaica, that is, the lower denomination copper coins, farthing, half penny, penny ha'penny and penny as well the higher denomination silver coins, three pence, six pence, shilling, florin, half crown and crown ..."  [2]

While the Spanish coins were demonetized, an exemption was made in the case of the gold doubloon, which remained legal tender until it was demonetized in 1901.

Such Act cast the die for the three halfpence. It was the motive that drenched the local market with British fractional copper coins, to the point, that the small size and the difficulty in handling the tiddlers, together with the fact that they were legal tender in an amount not exceeding 10 shillings, caused the mercantile community for the first time began to complain about it as reported to the Assembly, since the introduction of them in 1834.

More frequently they refused to accept the 1½ pence from the churches [which handle large quantities because it was the traditional coin for tithe] except at a discount of 10%. While this was illegal it is possible that the rector of the church generally found this practice more "acceptable" that engage in a argument with the merchant. Similar problems stir up in other British colonies where the coins were sent.

However, despite the black population's freedom from slavery, the economic conditions on the island did not improve much over in a long time. The Planters' Bank, established with the purpose to serve the needs of the sugar planters in need of ready money, whom still reeling from the loss of slave labor, suffered another suppression when England passed the Sugar Duties Act in 1846, eliminating Jamaica's traditionally favorably status as its primary supplier of sugar.

After all it went bankruptcy and closed its doors in 1851, follow up by the Bank of Jamaica in 1864, and The London and Colonial Bank, which operated for a short period of time [1864-1865].

During these years many sugar plantations were abandoned because they were so in debt, with large numbers of persons regardless of race, who worked on the plantations found themselves jobless. Those that were kept on, were paid low and irregular starvation wages plus heavy taxation. In fact, the colony was in a state of bankruptcy. This events moved steadily towards the tragedy of the Morant Bay Rebellion.

The lack of any request of them to the Treasury for a period of 17 years, since its production stopped abruptly in 1843, and not repeated until 1860 and 1862 with the entire mintage sent specifically to this island, reflected the gradual decline of the economic.

By the end of 1869 it was obvious that many local merchants and employers either lacked the funds or were short of money in the small denominations. The copper and bronze coins of the British imperial coinage, as explained earlier, were far from popular among the population of Jamaica.

An acceptable metal was gaining popularity for coinage, the cupro-nickel alloy; may be because it looked similar to silver to the islanders. By an order in Council of 11 November 1869, and by the local laws, the penny and half-penny, weighting the same as the British bronze coins of similar denominations, were authorized to be struck for Jamaica. Although the 1½ pence continued in limited circulation there until about 1890.

Though, the Senate has been responsible for causing Jamaica make the first request in 1834 from any colony for production of the coin, in my opinion is, that in the end, the stubbornness of the black population to accept the British copper coin and bronze coinage, from the early 1830s, as explained before, was the real "collateral cause" for the mintage of this new tiny little silver coin, otherwise they could never have come to be struck at all.

Although there was no longer a 1½ pence coin, the "quattie" was still used as a measure of value until late 1950's and consequently became embedded in the local language and culture, for example a "quattie" could buy 3½ lbs. of sugar in 1834 or ironically a copy of the local newspaper in the 1920's.

The "quattie" is one of the best vestiges in the history of money, when interlinked with the history of the civilization. In this case an perspective of the cultural, social and economic development of the Jamaican society, which almost 100 years later would remain part of it.

Δ Close-up detail of a classified, as it was printed in a local newspaper. Among other items offered for sale, [outlined in red] one silver coin bracelet with fine pendant christian quatties.  [3]

Δ  A modern replica of a silver bracelet with 16 pendant coins made ​​in the likeness of which were used in Jamaica by emancipated slaves in the past.  [4]