Great Britain. 1741/39 George II Half Crown. Spink-3693, KM-574.3. D. QVARTO Edge. Extremely Fine.

Nicely toned in dominant silver-gray, deeper olive-charcoal rings the obverse periphery, while the reverse exhibits glints of pale blue and gold iridescence. This coin was discovered in 1958 during razing of the old Hannah House in Annandale, Virginia, which contained an 18th century cache of unknown origin and intent. The cache contained two chests, one of which housed approximately 200 English silver coins; the other included several items of old fashioned silver, but apparently no coins. This particular George II half crown was subsequently acquired by our consignor at a Delaware Coin Show and became the subject of an article he wrote for the Fall 2017 edition of the C4 Newsletter titled "The Forgotten British Coin Cache of Annandale Virginia." There our consignor speculates on the possible origin of this enigmatic hoard: "...it appears this hoard of 200 English silver coins would likely have been placed there by a single British Officer or by an upper-class gentleman with ties to Great Britain's interests. By law of the period [middle to late 18th century], English-minted gold and silver coin were illegal to circulate in the American colonies and only it's coppers that were granted authority to circulate by the Crown." The author also references the original newspaper article published in the May 23, 1958 edition of The Washington Post and Times Herald detailing the find. Photocopies of both articles are included with this lot. The articles are available to the winning bidder upon request to Stack's Bowers Galleries at the close of the auction .

Collector envelope and tag included.