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The goal of every privateer besides patriotism was financial gain.  From my research, the majority of such gain was usually whatever cargo a prize ship carried, plus the value of the prize ship itself, which would be sold.  The main motivator was money, whether from sales of cargo or ships, or hard cash.  Sometimes the prize ship carried gold or silver bullion or coins passing from the colonies to their mother country, or vice-versa.  Sometimes the coins were from trade, sometimes it was payroll for far-flung armies.  The War of 1812 was primarily between the US and Britain.  However, many other countries played roles in that war, were involved in wars of their own (such as the Napoleonic wars), or were otherwise involved in drastic social changes, revolutionary wars, etc.  A privateer such as Captain Tom Boyle might encounter the ships or the cargo of many other countries as he prowled the seas.

With that in mind, I thought that my readers might like to see what money from the War of 1812 period looked like.  In the following pages, I offer some nice examples of 1812 period coins.