Machin's Mills Halfpenny
1747 Machin's Mills Halfpenny. Vlack 1-47A, W-7660. Rarity-5. GEORGIVS II, Group II. EF-40 (PCGS).
112.8 grains. The only known emission of counterfeit halfpenny from "Machin's Mills" imitating a coin of George II, though stylistically similar to the other "Group 2" coins of George III that are associated with James Bailey and Ephraim Brasher in New York City. Vlack 1-47A is famous for its two iterations - weakly struck at and around George's eye, and competently struck in that area. Finding an attractive, well struck example is nearly impossible. The PCGS EF-40 example in Heritage's February 2008 Long Beach auction featured a fully defined George, if weak at the right obverse periphery, and brought a well-deserved $19,550 commensurate with its status as the likely finest known example. The PCGS VF-35 Jack Royse coin, smooth chocolate brown with areas of lighter patina soared to $11,162.50 in our November 2012 Baltimore auction, again illustrating the difficulty in finding choice examples of the die pairing. The E Pluribus Unum example, with its choice, chocolate brown surfaces, ideal centering and smooth, trouble-free wear, is in many ways more appealing in its evenness than either of the other two condition census examples cited here. It is perhaps a bit more worn than either of them, and it displays the typical soft strike at George's eye that allows the texture of the original planchet surface to remain visible in that area. Britannia's head, however, is so sharply defined that her multiple chins are clear under magnification. A short, shallow mark between the IA of BRITANNIA is barely worthy of note. Die clashing is best seen in two sets of very closely spaced exergual lines between the first stop and George's hair above his fair. This newly graded specimen is just the second EF-40 coin graded at PCGS, with none finer, though we note an EF-40 example at NGC that we have not seen. Nearly a decade has elapsed since the appearance of the superb Royse coin, and knowledgeable buyers will recognize the opportunity presented by this E Pluribus Unum example.
PCGS# 445 and #826933.
PCGS Population 2; 0 finer.
From the E Pluribus Unum Collection. Earlier from Michael K. Ringo, via private sale. Mike's distinctive envelope included.
Estimate: $5000