1788 Connecticut Copper. Miller 14.1-S, W-4575. Rarity-7+. Draped Bust Left. VG-8 (PCGS).
122.2 grains. An exceptionally rare and perhaps underappreciated variety, Miller 14.1-S is the second rarest variety of 1788 and features a reverse die found in no other combination. Just four examples are known, only three of which are in private hands. The institutionally held example, in the Yale University Collection, is the discovery coin for the variety and was first reported by Theodore Buttrey in the January 1962 issue of The Colonial Newsletter. That coin is remarkably high grade, AU or better, but interestingly has a straight planchet clip in the date area such that it wasn't originally clear if the reverse was in fact a 1788. It was not until the mid 1980s when Steve Tanenbaum turned up the present coin, with its visible last date digit, that the 1788 attribution was confirmed. This piece has deep olive-brown surfaces, the dies aligned just shy of medal turn. Obverse die collapsing quickly with a large bulge that obscures the entire back of the effigy's head, uniformly microgranular with scattered rim nicks, rim tight to top of RI and tip of wreath, reverse fairly well centered, rim through bottoms of date numerals and through INDE. There are just two other privately held examples. One is a slightly higher grade coin with Fine-VF sharpness, good brown color, but some reverse damage. The reverse of that coin is plated in Clark. The other is an extremely low grade and counterstamped piece ex New England Rare Coin Auction's July 1976 sale and later Taylor. The present coin was one of the relative bargains of our Collection SLT sale where it realized $4,312.50, a fraction of what many other similar rarities brought there. With just four known, one impounded, and one a "disastrous mutilation" per its 1976 auction description, collectors should take full advantage of the fleeting opportunity presented here.
PCGS# 914466.
From the Sydney F. Martin Collection. Earlier ex "Pocono Hoard," Long Beach, CA, October 1986; Steve Tanenbuam; our sale of Collection SLT, January 2012 Americana Sale, lot 7450. Reverse plated in Randy Clark's "The Identification and Classification of Connecticut Coppers 1785-1788," p. 669.

Estimate: $6000