Classic 1788 RR-30 Vermont Copper

Backward C in AUCTORI Ex Ryder-Boyd-Bowers

1788 Vermont Copper. RR-30, Bressett 23-S, W-2225. Rarity-6-. Bust Right, Backward C in AUCTORI. VG-10 (PCGS).

113.5 grains. Exceptionally nice, medium golden-brown surfaces are overall hard and tight with appreciable gloss. Obverse centering is off to 3 o'clock, the right border through the word AUCTORI, with about 30% of the backward C visible, similar to Taylor:2089 in this regard. Intermediate obverse and reverse die states, the obverse earlier than the Taylor coin, with the upper half of the effigy's bust, including the chin, still visible. The "rope-like" mail is about as visible as on the Taylor coin, but later than the extraordinary sharpness of Norweb:1299. Reverse die failing in the center, overall about as the Taylor coin, but not flawed, so with a bit more detail discernible. Norweb:1299 was also extraordinary in terms of reverse detail. The date numerals on the present example are illegible, as is usual for the variety. Original planchet texture remains in the center of the obverse, upper left central reverse, minor voids at the lower and upper right reverse borders, faint obverse pin scratches over and around the effigy. The appearance is remarkably smooth for an RR-30, nonetheless, especially given the assigned grade, which is conservative in our opinion (we cataloged it as Fine-15 to VF-20 in our 1991 Frontenac Sale). RR-30 offers the only use of this obverse die (Bressett 23) in the Vermont copper series. The present piece's weight falls comfortably within the metrology for the variety given in the Carlotto reference, ranging from 101.2 to a heavy 138.0 grains. Showing a trace of the hallmark backwards C places this ahead of many examples in desirability, and the surfaces are certainly choice for a variety that is often impaired due to environmental damage and/or heavy marks. Fewer than 30 specimens of RR-30 are known, many of which are impounded in institutional collections: ANS, Bennington Museum, ANA, Vermont Historical Society, and others. This example is number 19 in Roy E. Bonjour's 1985 survey listing (with additions by Q. David Bowers). It is not as sharp as Heritage February 2020:3466 or the Norweb-Partrick specimen (the aforementioned Norweb:1299 coin), but is still more choice than the counterstamped Bonjour specimen from our (Stack's) 75th Anniversary Sale, the low grade Scherff coin from our (Stack's) March 2010 sale, the flawed example in the May 2009 Goldberg sale that still netted $7,475, and the granular and scratched Freidus coin from our November 2012 Baltimore Auction. Ford I:67 is sharper than this on the reverse, but severely flawed at the left obverse. RR-30 is not only a major variety in the state copper series, it is also one of the major stoppers for Vermont specialists. This example offers superior quality and outstanding visual appeal that has not been present for most examples offered in recent years.

PCGS# 689362.

From the Q. David Bowers Collection. Earlier from Lyman H. Low's sale of the Henry Phelps Collection, March 1908, lot 13; our (Bowers and Merena's) sale of Selections from the Hillyer C. Ryder - F.C.C. Boyd Collection, November 1991 Frontenac Sale, lot 116.