“1785” (ca. 1863) Confederatio Cent, Small Stars. By J.A. Bolen. Musante JAB-8. Copper. Edge diagonally reeded. AU-53 (PCGS).

26.5 mm. 144.6 grains. Light olive brown with some deeper patina in the fields and a trace of surface scale that gives it a slightly granular appearance under magnification. An interesting specimen of this Bolen copy, one that seems to have been lightly worn down in a possible attempt to pass it to someone as the genuine article long ago. The edge exhibits fine diagonal reeding, neatly applied after striking, and similar in appearance to that seen on certain 18th-century English token issues. This was likely an attempt to suggest greater age, though the original Confederatio pieces did not bear such edge devices. Still quite scarce and an example that tells a good numismatic story, assuming no one was duped out of a large sum of money a century ago! Of course, these treatments might just as well have been done by a collector who wished his "filler" copy to look more like the coins around it in his cabinet and not stand out as "modern." One of 40 believed to have been struck in copper and from the early state of the obverse, consistent with a Bolen original.

From the E Pluribus Unum Collection.