1787 VT 1/2P Britannia, BN MS(PCGS#554)

June 2020 U.S. Coins Auction

拍卖行

Stack's Bowers

批号

211

等级

XF45BN

价格

9,324

详细说明

1787 Vermont Copper. RR-13, Bressett 17-V, W-2255. Rarity-1. BRITANNIA. EF-45 (PCGS). 110.9 grains. Deep golden-tan surfaces reveal some minimal roughness, as struck, though no detracting surface blemishes can be seen by the unaided eye. From an early state of the dies, the obverse has just a tiny cud at the tip of the bust, and there are no signs of the bisecting crack that later crosses the effigy. Minor rim clip at 11 o'clock. The strike is evenly centered with much of the denticles present, and the design elements all bold. The reverse is from an early and seldom-encountered state with bold central details with all of BRITANNIA visible though weak in places, and with date details as sharp as ever seen for this challenging variety. The aforementioned rim clip manifests itself at 7 o'clock on the reverse, the same side with a spot of rouge-red evident at the first letter A in BRITANNIA and the branch immediately adjoining. There are no marks of consequence on either side. One of the most plentiful Vermont coppers of any date or variety, RR-13 is readily obtainable in all circulated grades with a sprinkling of Mint State coins among the extant population. On the other hand, reverse striking quality is almost always exceedingly poor (see below), and even most Uncirculated coins display far less detail on that side than the present example. A case in point are both Partrick specimens in NGC MS-63 BN (Heritage, January 2015:5765 and 5766) with little of BRITANNIA evident and the date more or less illegible. In fact, the present example is plated on page 120 of the Carlotto reference on Vermont coppers with the caption "Early reverse-V / With maximum detail." It clearly offers superior quality of strike on the reverse for this challenging variety, and is worthy of bids far in excess of what the assigned grade would normally demand for an RR-13. This variety, attributed to Machin's Mills, is a muling of a new-style Vermont obverse with a much-used reverse from the Machin's Mills counterfeit halfpenny series, attributed as Vlack 87C. The shallow relief of this die and its frequent use in multiple pairings explain the extreme weakness evident in most examples of RR-13. Provenance: From the Q. David Bowers Collection. Earlier from Rosa Americana's Fixed Price List #1, 1989, lot 132; our sale of the Dan Freidus Collection, November 2012 Baltimore Auction, lot 6640. Stack's Bowers Galleries lot tag and collector envelope with attribution notation included. PCGS# 554.