Wood's Hibernia Farthing
1723 Wood’s Hibernia Farthing. Martin 3.2-Bc.10, W-12500. Rarity-5. Silver. SP-63 (PCGS).
71.4 grains. From our legendary 1983 Roper sale, where it was described as “an exquisitely detailed coin with some evidence of double striking in the legends. Mirror-like fields on both sides of the coin, with some golden toning on the obverse. Proof.” Subtle violet and blue toning has gathered on the richly reflective fields, whose brightness and quality is essentially unsurpassed for this issue. Only the most trivial hairlines and evidence of handling are noted. Two planchet lines are present at ER of HIBERNIA, and a thin struck-through divides the space between RA of GRATIA. Though PCGS has assigned a higher grade on 15 occasions, there is little doubt the actual number of coins involved is fewer. This die marriage is perhaps the most frequently encountered among silver strikes of this issue, most of which seem to trace their lineage to a single small hoard.
PCGS #179
From the E Pluribus Unum Collection. Earlier from our (Stack’s) sale of the John L. Roper, 2nd Collection, December 1983, lot 11.
Estimate: $6000