1788 NJ 1/2P Head Right, Maris 65-u, BN MS(PCGS#767860)

The Summer 2022 Global Showcase Auction U.S. Coins

拍卖行

Stack's Bowers

批号

8134

等级

VF20BN

价格

6,205

详细说明

Very Chubby New Jersey 1788 New Jersey Copper. Maris 65-u, W-5495. Rarity-3. Head Right. VF-20 (PCGS). 187.4 grains. 27.7 mm. Reverse aligned slightly clockwise from proper coin turn. A third example of this Maris number, one of the heaviest New Jerseys around. Syd liked this variety. He ended up with five of them (we sold a duplicate in November 2017) and found the die states, the crude and widely variable planchets, and interesting diework fascinating. This one, aside from being a very nice example of the variety, had two extra points of interest: the weight and the painted die variety (or PDV). These represent something of the alpha and the omega of the coin: its status as a transferable ingot of raw copper that was given currency status at a certain weight standard when struck with dies, and its life as a collectible object. The statutory weight of New Jersey coppers was 150 grains. Most fall short, as therein lies the profit potential for the minters. There are just a literal handful of New Jersey coppers heavier than this. The Maris-Garrett 17-b, offered as lot 6042 in our November 2019 E Pluribus Unum sale, tipped the scales at 189.9 grains from its unusual and chunky 1774 French sol under type. The heaviest identified in the Siboni-Howes-Ish book is a Maris 68-w that weighs 203.7 grains, a weight that seems more like a minting error than simple aberrance. This New Jersey copper weighs more than a post-1795 large cent, and it is visibly thick from the edge in a very satisfying way. Mike Hodder's Spring 1998 article on New Jersey reverse u in the C4 Newslettermentions a weight range for Maris 65-u of 113 to 188 grains. This seems to be the heaviest one he recorded. Painted die varieties are tantalizing. They affirm that a coin was owned and beloved by a specialist before World War I (and usually before the dawn of the 20th century), but no system for identifying them has ever reached a level of complete satisfaction. This may well be a Dr. Hall PDV, as the location on the coin and the style are consistent. Then again, he hardly had a monopoly on white ink, neat handwriting, and the upper right field of a New Jersey. This piece displays highly attractive chocolate brown surfaces, glossy and largely smooth, with a firm and mostly well centered strike. The obverse centering is ideal, the reverse is trivially left. The die state is Die State 2, with the same cracks described on the Parsons-Ford coin above. This may not trigger Condition Census alarms, but it's a very nice, eye-appealing, and interesting example of the variety with few flaws and much to recommend it. Provenance: From the Sydney F. Martin Collection. Earlier from our (Bowers and Merena's) sale of the Byron Johnson Collection, January 1989, lot 38; our (Stack's) sale of the Peter Scherff Collection, March 2010, lot 2232. PCGS# 767860. 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.