1785 Immune Columbia / Nova Constellatio. W-1985, Breen-1120. Rarity-6+. Silver. Reeded Edge. 13 Stars. VF-20 (PCGS).
91.2 grains. 27.8 mm. 135 degree die rotation. Last offered publicly in our (Stack's) 1993 sale of the Floyd Starr Collection, where we described it as "Choice Fine. Low Rarity 7. Light gray high points, darker charcoal gray fields. Two old scratches in left reverse field. Later state of the obverse, the rim beginning to crumble above the letters, a little more advanced than Norweb:2620. Vertical edge reeding, as the Norweb and ANS coins. Not holed, nearly half the number known have at one time been pierced. A muling of the 1785 Immune Columbia obverse with Crosby's 1785 Constellatio Nova obverse 3. Very rare: one of 11 specimens traced by J. Bruce Jackson in his study of the series ( The Numismatis t, January 1992)." Succinct as it was, there is little to add. The visual appeal is superb, with bold contrast between the fields and devices drawing out the fine details and bold strike. Despite the wear, the all-seeing eye on the central reverse is more boldly rendered here than on most copper specimens. Though the planchet appears to have a somewhat hand cut appearance and is slightly out of round in areas, the edges are well preserved. The two short scratches are shallow, old, and toned over; they bother us very little against the backdrop of this coin's eye appeal. Silver Immune Columbias are known with three different edge devices: vertical reeding, diagonal reeding, and no reeding at all. Of the just over a dozen examples known in total, five are vertically reeded (this one, the Norweb coin, the Earle-Jackman-Craige coin, the Newman coin, and the ANS specimen). If this suggests three separate emissions, it's unclear which came first or if any time separated them. The census of this issue, based upon Michael Hodder's work in the Norweb catalog, typically includes the Lauder specimen and a plain edge example in the "Ted Craige estate." The Lauder specimen was withdrawn before the sale in 1983 and disappeared; its authenticity has not been verified. We sold the Craige Estate coins in 2012 and 2013, and it did not include a silver Immune Columbia with plain edge. The Craige Estate collection did include the Earle-Jackman coin, graded PCGS EF Details, Damage, which brought $64,625. That piece had vertical edge reeding and was included on Hodder's Norweb census as coin #9. In recent years, we've sold the Roper plain edge piece (2017, graded EF Details, Graffiti by NGC, $51,700) and the superb Brand-Robison-Archangel coin (2018, graded PCGS AU-55, $102,000). We note the following examples, building on the census composed by Hodder and the census by J. Bruce Jackson, published in the January 1992 issue of The Numismatist : 1.The Garrett-Ford-Partrick coin. NGC AU-55. (Jackson #2) 2.The Brand-Robison-Archangel coin. PCGS AU-55. (Jackson #3) 3.The Newman coin. NGC AU-53. 4.The American Numismatic Society specimen. AU or so. 5.The NN60-Partrick coin. NGC/PCGS VF-35. (Jackson #1) 6.The Norweb coin. Cataloged as VF-30 in 1988. (Jackson #8) 7.The Kagin 1986 ANA sale coin. Fine to VF. (Jackson #7) 8.Parmelee-Brand II (June 1984):956. AU, holed and plugged. (Jackson #6) 9.Stack's 2001 Americana sale, lot 62. AU, holed and plugged. 10.The Craige coin. PCGS EF Details, Damage. (Jackson #12) 11.The Roper-Partrick coin. EF Details, Reverse Graffiti, NGC. (Jackson #4) 12.Heritage, May 2002, lot 3050. NGC VF Details, Tooled. 13.The Oechsner coin. VF Details, Tooled. (Smoothed on the reverse on the exact same spot as the Craige specimen, oddly enough.) (Jackson #9) 14.The Steinberg coin (Stack's, October 1989, lot 68). VF, holed and plugged. (Jackson #10) Not listed: the withdrawn Lauder coin. (Jackson #5) It is notable that fully half this census is composed of coins with one sort of damage or other. Desired as a rarity, important as a likely multi-composition pattern for the coinage of a new nation, the 1785 Immune Columbia is at once a landmark part of the Confederation series and an issue shrouded in mystery. A single gold specimen exists, and copper and silver examples survive in similar proportion to one another. The series is linked to the Nova Constellatio series by die marriage and thus these are likely products of the same entrepreneurial partnership composed of Robert Morris, Gouverneur Morris, and William Constable. These Founding Fathers were intimately connected to the creation of our monetary system. While their vision was not followed to completion, the Nova Constellatio coppers, the extremely rare Nova Constellatio patterns of 1783, and these rare Immune Columbia issues are what remain of it. Silver pieces like this one have no precise cognate in the Morris system, but observed weights of specimens known today hew fairly closely to the weights of Spanish pistareen two reales and not far from British shillings, which outweigh these slightly. Few of the survivors are heavily worn, but likewise none are Gem Mint State (or even close). It is clear these were meant to be handled, not struck for collectors, but also not intended to circulate. In a numismatic world where "pattern" has become a meaningless term, these coins define the original intent of that verbiage: a trial production to exemplify a design concept. They likely served much the same purpose as the 1783 Nova Constellatio patterns that preceded them. The copper Nova Constellatios were later tokens meant for circulation, as were the 1787 Immunis Columbia coppers that imitated this coin's design. The obverse depicts Columbia, the goddess of America, sitting on a box or chest, seemingly protecting the commercial products within it. Her two hands grasp two symbols: a balance, symbolizing justice, and a cap and pole, symbolizing liberty. It is no accident that the Nova Constellatio patterns bear the obverse legend LIBERTAS ET JUSTITIA. In its own way, this piece does too. The reverse is Crosby's 1785 Obverse 3 of the Nova Constellatio series. Though several pieces have been certified with details grades, PCGS has assigned straight grades to just three pieces: VF-20 (this one), VF-35 (the Partrick coin, formerly NGC VF-35), and AU-55 (the Archangel coin).
PCGS# 829.
From the Sydney F. Martin Collection. Earlier from our (Stack's) sale of the Floyd T. Starr Collection, January 1993, lot 962; Lawrence R. Stack Collection, November 2006.

Estimate: $36000