(1616) 2P Sommer Islands, Small Star MS(PCGS#45354)

The March 2012 Baltimore Auction

拍卖行

Stack's Bowers

批号

4001

等级

F15

价格

326,047

详细说明

Undated (Circa 1616) Sommer Islands Twopence. BMA Type I, W-11400. Small Star Between Legs. Fine-15 (PCGS). This denomination was unknown to Crosby in 1876 as the first specimen not discovered until 1877 when it was washed up on a beach near Port Royal. This denomination was first published in the <em>American Journal of Numismatics</em> in October, 1887 as being unique. Very rare: in the past 100 years about two dozen have been discovered, the total about equally divided between the Small and Large Star varieties. Collectors should not be misled into thinking that the Sommer Islands twopence is available on the marketplace with any degree of frequency, however. Of the approximately 21 to 24 specimens traced of both types, fully half of them, 13, are permanently impounded in public collections and will not be offered for sale. That leaves about a dozen that can ever enter private collections, a number small enough to make the denomination a great early American rarity. Averaged out over the past 100 years it seems that examples of the Sommer Islands twopence appear at auction about once a decade. The twopence denomination is the second rarest of the four after the threepence and ahead of both the shilling and sixpence.<br /> This specimen, like so many others, exhibits an obverse that is far stronger in design than the reverse. The Parsons-Norweb coin was much like that, too, sharper on the front than on the back. This specimen is even, deep green-brown like old bronze. The obverse shows the denomination II clear at the top, the hogge's ridge back sharp and bold, most of its body visible save for its snout and tail, both ears full, the small star mostly visible, the ground line nearly complete, and about as full an inner border of beads as one can wish for. The reverse detail is considerably scarcer. The ship's hull can be seen in part and the rest in imagination, two gun ports are fully round and bold, and some parts of the rigging and superstructure can be discer