1787 NJ 1/2P PLURIBS, BN XF40BN 认证号50449842, PCGS号512

From the Earlycoppercoins PCGS Registry Set. Recently sold in the Stacks Bowers auction of 11/18/24, where this example was lot #1281 and described as: “1787 New Jersey Copper. Maris 60-p, W-5340. Rarity-4. Sprig Above Plow, PLURIBS. Large Planchet. EF-40 (PCGS). 154.7 grains. Handsome olive and golden-brown patina, the planchet choice apart from light porosity that hardly detracts. Excellent overall definition, just a tad soft in the centers, impression trivially off center to 1 o'clock on the obverse, 5 o'clock on the reverse. Although not included therein, this piece challenges the best pieces listed in the 2013 Siboni-Howes-Ish Condition Census, which range in grade from VF to AU. Much of what our online archives from the past 20 or so years can muster for Maris 60-p grades Fine or Very Fine; the Dr. Gordon Shaw specimen is a noteworthy outlier in PCGS AU-50, it brought $8,813 in March 2017, although shows considerably more planchet roughness in the centers than seen here. Here, indeed, is a coin that would be difficult to improve upon for the variety. Provenance: From the Ross Family Collection. Earlier ex our (Bowers and Merena's) sale of the Frederick B. Taylor Collection, March 1987, lot 2256; Tom Rinaldo.” The coin was purchased from the Stacks auction by CVM for $2640, and I paid a considerably higher price at the Grapevine coin show on 12/13/24. At the time of this description, this coin is tied for second-highest graded example at PCGS, with the Dr. Gordon Shaw specimen mentioned in the description above being the highest graded example at PCGS as AU50. The other PCGS EF40 resides in the RUATWINCOIN collection. While the Shaw specimen is listed as EF- and CC5, this Taylor example is not among the top 8 coins listed in the new Siboni / Howell / Ish “New Jersey State Coppers Companion” released in 2024. However, I suspect that this coin would certainly be among the top dozen for the M60-p variety. PCGS #512.40/50449842 with “PLURIBS” and “Taylor” listed on the PCGS label.

P. Scott Rubin

One of the more interesting varieties of the 1787 New Jersey copper has the word PLURIBUS misspelled PLURIBS on the reverse. In 1880, Dr. Edward Maris designated this reverse die “p”. It is found mated with two different obverse dies: Maris 60 and 61.

Maris 60-p is slightly more common than Maris 61-p. Each variety is very. Two examples of each variety are known in About Uncirculated, with one Maris 61-p rumored to be Mint State.

Curiously, Maris 55-m is a corrected version of the PLURIBS error. The original Maris “m” reverse included the PLURIBS error, but it was corrected before any coins were struck. Thus, the “m” reverse shows an S under the U.