Pistareen

A coin worth nominally twenty cents.

1764.  “New England’s prospect” advertised for Two Pistareens.—Boston Evening Post, Aug. 6.

1765.  Several persons have been committed to Goal (sic) for uttering Counterfeit Dollars, Quarter of Dollars, and half Pistereens.—Mass. Gazette, Sept. 26.

1766.  [He said] he would not receive even a pistareen.—Boston Evening Post, Dec. 22.

1769.  Cyder Brandy, at Two Pistareens per Gallon.—Boston Weekly News-Letter, Feb. 9.

1769.  Lemmons One Pistareen per Doz.—Id., March 9.

1774.  You know I never get or save anything by cozening or classmating. So I gave pistareens enough among the children and servants to have paid twice for my entertainment.—John Adams, ‘Familiar Letters,’ p. 10. (N.E.D.)

1774.  Bride and Christening Cakes made, and ornamented in the genteelest manner, at a Pistareen per Pound.—Mass. Gazette, Dec. 12.

1782.  Eight or ten pistareens, together with a quantity of small money.—Maryland Journal, Dec. 17.

1789.  A cooper’s apprentice, rather clumsily built, made a bet of a pistareen (twenty cents) that he would ascend to the vane of the old South meeting-house by the lightning-rod and turn the weather-cock.—‘Recollections of Samuel Breck,’ p. 42 (Phila., 1877).

1796.  When the turnip-tops were of the size of pistareens.—Gazette of the U.S., Phila., July 21.

1806.  Did you not magnanimously give the man a single half pistereen?—Salem (Mass.) Register, April 7.

1810.  [He offered him] an extra half bit, a pistareen, a half dollar! a dollar!! and a bottle of rum.—Mass. Spy, May 9.

1823.  Wanted, a Few Thousand old fashioned Pistareens at their original value.—Nantucket Inquirer, Oct. 28.

1829.  [The Bank] receives and pays out Pistareens, which formerly passed for 20 cents, at 17 cents each.—Mass. Spy, July 8: from the Boston Centinel.

1829.  Pistareens are worth 18³/₄ cents in New York.—Id., July 22.

1829.  Their current value in Connecticut is 18 cents, in New York 18³/₄ cents, and in some towns in Massachusetts only 17 cents. Their real value varies from 16 to 20 cents, and probably averages about 18 cents; the head pistareens are worth 20 cents.—Id., July 29: from the Hampshire Gazette.

1850.  He surprises his wife with a Cashmere, the poor box with a pistareen, and his friend, the country capitalist, with a balance against him, and an invitation to dine.—D. G. Mitchell, ‘The Lorgnette,’ ii. 116 (1852).

1850.  Look o’ here, ’Square, one o’ them quarters you ’gin me last was a pistareen!—Knick. Mag., xxxv. 179 (Feb.).

1853.  “What is the currency of the U.S.?” “Coppers, bogus, Bungtown cents, pennies, fips, fourpence ’a’pennies, levys, ninepences, Spanish quarters, pistareens, and shinplasters.”—Weekly Oregonian, Aug. 13.

1862.  The more they scold about taxes, the more we wote for improvements, and we do n’t care a pistareen what sort of improvements they are, if the money cums.—Knick. Mag., lx. 226–7 (Sept.).

1872.  Every time I ask him to change a pistareen … what does the fellow do but … pull out an old Roman coin.—Holmes, ‘The Poet at the Breakfast-Table,’ chap. iii.

1875.