1773 VA 1/2P Period, BN MS(PCGS#240)

August 2018 ANA U.S. Coins Auction Philadelphia, PA

拍卖行

Stack's Bowers

批号

179

等级

MS64+BN

价格

6,978

详细说明

1773 Virginia Halfpenny. Newman 27-J, W-1585. Rarity-2. Period After GEORGIVS, 7 Harp Strings. MS-64+ BN (PCGS). This premium Choice Virginia halfpenny exhibits an original and attractive blend of vivid pinkish-rose color and light flint gray patina. It is boldly to sharply defined from a well executed strike, and hints of modest semi-reflectivity are noted in the protected areas around the devices. Although the April 10, 1606, charter that King James granted to Virginia gave the colony coinage privileges, it was not until December 20, 1769, that the Virginia House of Burgesses passed an act allocating money for the minting of copper coins in Britain. The act was the result of increasing pressure from tradesmen in the colony who sought copper coins to be used in commerce, as the mix of English, Spanish, Portuguese and Dutch pieces in use at the time was seen as inadequate. The final design was approved in 1772, and on May 20, 1773, the English crown authorized the coinage of halfpennies for Virginia. The coins were struck in the Royal Mint in the Tower of London. The Virginia halfpence are, in fact, the only coins authorized and produced in England for use in an American colony. Newman 27-J is one of the more frequently encountered die marriages of the 1773 Virginia halfpenny and appears to have been well represented in the hoard of more than 5,000 Mint State examples once held by Col. Mendes I. Cohen of Baltimore, Maryland. Although the late Walter Breen offered several different stories for the background of this hoard, Michael J. Hodder (as related in Bowers' Whitman Encyclopedia of Colonial and Early American Coins,2009) believes that Cohen received the hoard from his father Israel I. Cohen upon the latter's death in 1801. The Cohens were prominent in Baltimore banking, and it is likely that Israel obtained these coins through his business activities. The Cohen hoard was dispersed over an extended period of time beginning in 1875, and hundreds of examples were still held intact as late as the 1950s. Today, Mint State Virginia halfpence of all varieties and from all sources are widely dispersed, and offerings such as this represent a significant find for high grade type collectors or colonial coin specialists. PCGS Population (all die marriages of the Period After GEORGIVS variety): 4; 5 finer in this category (MS-66 BN finest). PCGS# 240. NGC ID: 2ATK. Click here for certification details from PCGS.