1739 3P Higley, Broad Axe, BN MS (PCGS#219)
August 2023 Global Showcase Auction U.S. Coins
- 拍卖行
- Stack's Bowers
- 批号
- 8234
- 等级
- VF20BN
- 价格
- 480,594
- 详细说明
- 1739 Higley Copper Rarity
A Lovely Example of the Freidus 3.3-D Variety
1739 Higley Copper. Freidus 3.3-D, W-8285. Rarity-7. VALUE ME AS YOU PLEASE / J CUT MY WAY THROUGH, Broad Axe. VF-20 (PCGS).
123.8 grains. A lovely example of this 1739-dated rarity in the extraordinarily challenging Higley series. Struck on a decent planchet, which has toned to a deep, even, charcoal-olive with lighter golden-brown concentrated at select design elements. On the obverse, the peripheral legend at left is weak, but can be made out, deer and denomination sharp. The reverse has minor flan flaws (as made) at the border at 3:30 and 5 o'clock. The peripheral legend on that side is legible, though a few letters are weak.
Higley coppers are eagerly sought by advanced numismatists as one of the earliest copper pieces produced in what would eventually become the United States. The 1739-dated issue comes in three distinct varieties, all of which share the same reverse with the date 1739, peripheral legend J CUT MY WAY THROUGH, and a broad axe serving as the focal device. This is Reverse D as described by Dan Freidus in his important work The History and Die Varieties of the Higley Coppers, published in 1995 and based on his presentation at the American Numismatic Society's Coinage of the Americas Conference the previous year. Only 16 specimens of the date are known, divided into three die pairings based on differing obverses, as follows:
-Freidus 3.1-D: two specimens known, including one offered in our (Stack's) sale of the Henry Leon Sale, May 2007, lot 352.
-Freidus 3.2-D: seven specimens known.
-Freidus 3.3-D: seven specimens known, including the present example.
At least four of these coins are permanently impounded in museum collections, leaving precious few examples for private collectors. Most of the survivors are well worn, as here, although this one is better preserved and far better looking than the typical Good or Very Good in numismatic hands.
Provenance: From the Sydney F. Martin Collection. Earlier ex Henry Chapman's sale of the John Story Jenks Collection, December 1921, lot 5432; later, Lawrence R. Stack Collection, November 2006.
To view supplemental information and all items from the Sydney F. Martin Collection, click here.
PCGS# 219. NGC ID: AUAZ.
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.
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