1787 New Jersey Copper. Maris 45-d, W-5240. Rarity-5+. No Sprig Above Plow, Hypertrophic Ear. VF-20 (PCGS).
147.6 grains. Exemplary dark chocolate brown with glossy surfaces. Some areas show extremely subtle microscopic granularity, including the area atop the shield, but the basic visual impact is similar to a coin whose surfaces are hard and smooth. The obverse is aligned to 4 o'clock, with big bold denticles around the upper left of that side. The reverse is ideally centered. Only a very subtle scratch from the right bottom serif of R in CAESAREA into the field is worth mentioning. This piece is gratifyingly choice for the assigned grade, and thus stands as one of the better examples of the variety we've seen. As we noted when we sold the Syd Martin coin, a PCGS VG-8: "This is a very challenging variety to find in decent grade, as witnessed by the SHI Census that begins with two EF coins and descends to a pair of VF- coins in the fifth and sixth positions. Aside from the NGC VF-35 Ford-Partrick coin, the finest known, the best one of these offered recently was the pleasing VF-25 (PCGS) from the E Pluribus Unum Collection that brought $3,840 in our sale of November 2019." This one is almost as nice. It's finer than the Norm Peters VG-10 (PCGS), a particularly choice piece for the grade that brought $3,360 in our sale of November 2021.
PCGS# 767859.
From the E Pluribus Unum Collection.

Estimate: $2000