1788 Connecticut Copper. Miller 14.2-A.2, W-4580. Rarity-5. Draped Bust Left. AU-53 (PCGS).
120.0 grains. Glossy chocolate-brown with subtle olive mottling and a couple of obverse accents of deep steel. A few tiny nicks and marks are noted, but they blend in with the light natural roughness in the areas that are not fully struck up. Most of the surface, however, is smooth and hard and both the impression and the preservation are nice enough for this piece to exhibit faint die finishing marks. This in and of itself is rather outstanding. Both sides are centered a little high. On the obverse this affects the top of the effigy's head, along with most of the letters of the legend, from the U of AUCTORI to the O of CONNEC. The reverse is better centered with only the tops of ET LI compromised by the rim. The unevenly engraved date is full at the left, and fades into the rim at the right. Called "superior" and "one of the nicest seen" in the Ford catalog. Only the Hall-Brand-Taylor-Partrick coin graded NGC AU-58 seems to be markedly better. A lovely coin with a superb provenance.
PCGS# 687234.
From the Sydney F. Martin Collection. Earlier from Thomas L. Elder's sale of the Henry C. Miller Collection, May 1920, lot 2060; Hillyer Ryder; F.C.C. Boyd; our (Stack's) sale of the John J. Ford, Jr. Collection, Part IX, May 2005, lot 494; Anthony Terranova; our sale of the Twin Leaf Collection, Spring 2019 Baltimore Auction, lot 8392. Reverse plated in Randy Clark's "The Identification and Classification of Connecticut Coppers 1785-1788," p. 650.

Estimate: $2100