(1795) 1/2 P North Wales, Lettered Edge, BN MS(PCGS#773)

August 2023 Global Showcase Auction U.S. Coins

拍卖行

Stack's Bowers

批号

6028

等级

XF40BN

价格

31,457

详细说明

Rare Lettered Edge Variety of the North Wales Halfpenny Undated (1795) Washington North Wales Halfpenny. Musante GW-51, Baker-34A, W-11160. Two Stars. Copper. LANCASTER LONDON OR BRISTOL Edge. EF-40 (PCGS). Blended olive and medium brown color with a blush of lighter autumn-brown patina in the right reverse field that extends into the back to the harp. The in hand appearance is fairly smooth for the type, accuracy alone compelling us to mention a few light marks over and around Washington's portrait, most of which will require magnification to discern. The reverse is smoother with just a single mark in the upper right field and a few along the border outside the letters OR in NORTH. These were made to look old and worn. They were softly struck from a broken and clashed obverse die that imparted a bit of an abused appearance at the outset. In fact, this one is quite pleasing, with good, fairly even detail and a fully legible GEORGIVS WASHINGTON despite characteristic softness at the tops of the letters. Slight slippage in the application of the edge device resulted in partial overlap of the words LANCASTER and LONDON. Interestingly, this identical situation was noted on both the William Spohn Baker specimen in our November 2019 sale and the Sydney F. Martin specimen in our Winter 2022 Auction. Struck in the late 1790s, this type fits into the larger category of British evasion halfpence, generally softly struck coppers that imitated the designs of regal English and Irish halfpence, though the legends did not precisely copy those of the genuine pieces. Thus, the counterfeiting laws were "evaded," rather than strictly broken. Neil Musante (2016) attributes the North Wales halfpennies to the shop of William Lutwyche, the dies likely engraved by John Gregory Hancock, who also did the die work for the Washington Small and Large Eagle cents of 1791. Made for commercial use and not for distribution to contemporary collectors, the North Wales halfpenny as a type tends to come in much lower grades than the Washington pieces that are part of the British Conder token series. Several varieties are known, all of which are very scarce, if not rare. The most elusive variety is the Four Stars (a.k.a. Two Stars at Each Side of Harp), an example of which is offered below, followed by the Lettered Edge variant of the Two Stars, offered here. Baker wrote of this Lettered Edge variety in 1885 by pointing to the specimen in the 1883 Chapman sale of Sylvester Crosby's collection, where it was described by Haseltine as "perhaps unique." In Crosby's own 1875 reference on the early American circulating coinage, he discusses the Four Stars type alongside this as both unique, both in his own collection. Today, several are known of each of these variants, and both are well-collected, though both remain relatively rare. PCGS# 773. NGC ID: 2B88. Click here for certification details from PCGS. Image with the PCGS TrueView logo is obtained from and is subject to a license agreement with Collectors Universe, Inc. and its divisions PCGS and PSA.