(1785) 1/2P Bar Copper, BN MS (PCGS#599)
Winter 2022 U.S. Coins Auction
- 拍卖行
- Stack's Bowers
- 批号
- 3153
- 等级
- XF40BN
- 价格
- 48,730
- 详细说明
- Classic Bar Copper
Undated (ca. 1785) Bar Copper. W-8520. Rarity-4. EF-40 (PCGS).
A superior example of this classic early American type, both sides exhibit richly original steely-brown patina that delivers handsome old-time copper eye appeal. We note faint microgranularity that is easily overlooked in hand. There are no detracting marks. As is often the case for the type, the impression is slightly off center, the obverse drawn toward the viewer's right and the reverse toward the viewer's left. This is a minor feature, to be sure, as the design is boldly to sharply defined. An attractive piece that stands as a highlight of the early American coinage being offered in this sale.
One of the most eagerly sought numismatic items from the colonial and early federal era of United States history, the Bar copper is also one of the most enigmatic. We are not sure by whom or under what circumstances these pieces were produced. We are reasonably sure, however, that this type was struck circa 1785, as evidenced by an entry in the November 12, 1785, issue of the New Jersey Gazettethat states:
"A new and curious kind of coppers have lately made their appearance in New York. The novelty and bright gloss of which keeps them in circulation. These coppers are in fact similar to Continental buttons without eyes; on the one side are thirteen stripes and on the other U.S.A., as was usual on the solders' buttons."
Other facts concerning these coins are circumstantial. Russell Rulau (as related by Q. David Bowers, Whitman Encyclopedia of Colonial and Early American Coins, 2020) believes that the Bar coppers were struck in Birmingham, England by Thomas Wyon. As the foregoing article makes clear, at least some of these coins found their way to the young United States, where a dearth of circulating specie meant that they were eagerly accepted in commerce. To create a circulating coinage for the United States may have been the minter's intention all along, for the design would have been familiar to contemporary Americans. And circulate these coins did, for survivors are scarce in all grades, and most are well worn and/or impaired. Certainly an above average example, this pleasing EF would fit comfortably into an advanced collection.
PCGS# 599.
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