Proclamation money

Because each colony valued foreign coins differently, the Crown tried to impose one rate. Queen Anne's proclamation of 1704 said a Spanish piece of eight of full weight should pass for 6 shillings in the colonies, when it was worth 4s. 6d. sterling.

Not every colony followed it; Massachusetts kept its own lawful money. The term is also used more broadly for any money whose value a colony fixed by proclamation, including official prices set on goods such as tobacco so that payments in kind could be entered in pounds, shillings and pence.