1723 Wood’s Hibernia Halfpenny. Martin 4.46-Gd.3, W-13650. Rarity-7+ in this composition. Silver. MS-62 (PCGS).

122.8 grains. An exceptionally important rarity, offered with a much longer provenance than published previously. In the Breen Proof Coin Encyclopedia, he offered that there are "said to be only 2 known." Two is exactly the same number your cataloger, Syd Martin, and anyone who attends lot viewing for this auction will also have seen; the Ford cataloger (and Ford himself) had seen only this one. In the 1888 William Wrixon Leycester sale, this piece brought an impressive £9.12.6. When it was offered with the magnificent collection of John G. Murdoch in 1903, it was termed "Extremely Fine and very rare." The lustrous silver gray surfaces show a rich old golden tone, highlighted with pastel blue, rose, and violet. The obverse denticles are sharpest from 1 to 8 o'clock, while those on the reverse are fully realized from 10 to 6 o'clock. Aside from trivial cabinet friction on the high points and minor scattered hairlines, we identify no problems. A thin scratch from below the nose tip to between the bases of TI of GRATIA may be the only issue that serves to identify this piece. It has been clearly well cared for in a succession of great collections extending well back into the 19th century. William Wrixon Leycester (1807-1887) became the High Sheriff of the city of Cork in 1850. Such leadership was in his blood as the son of the former Lord Mayor of Cork. He may have been a collector by then; he certainly was by 1860. Sold three times between 1888 and 1903, this piece did not sell publicly again for over a century. It has been in the Martin Collection since 2005. While called Rarity-7+ in the Martin book, this appears to be the finer of just two known silver halfpence of this date, let alone this variety. The other one, from different dies, appears in the following lot.

PCGS# 920951. NGC ID: F7J8.

To view supplemental information and all items from the Sydney F. Martin Collection, click https://stacksbowers.com/sydney-f-martin-collection

From the Sydney F. Martin Collection. Earlier from Sotheby, Wilkinson, & Hodge's sale of the William Wrixon Leycester Collection, June 1888, lot 51; Sotheby, Wilkinson, & Hodge's sale of the Hyman Montagu Collection, July 1897, lot 235; John G. Murdoch Collection, via Spink; Sotheby, Wilkinson, & Hodge's sale of the John G. Murdoch Collection, March 1903, lot 8; Spink & Son, Ltd. in May 1915, via Numismatic Circular, March-April 1915, item 28511; F.C.C. Boyd Collection; our (Stack's) sale of the John J. Ford, Jr. Collection, Part VII, January 2005, lot 78; Lawrence R. Stack Collection, November 2006.