1787 Connecticut Copper. Miller 33.46-Z.21, W-4025. Rarity-7+. Draped Bust Left, INDE over IODE. VF-20 (PCGS).

145.8 grains. Moderately porous surfaces are deep tan over most of the motifs, legends and rims while the fields are darker steel brown in pleasant contrast. Fairly well centered on a seemingly somewhat compact flan. The obverse is almost free of planchet flaws, save for a tiny lamination just left of the ear. More extensive reverse flaws are seen in mostly retained central laminations and three voids near Liberty's knee. Evenly struck and pleasing for the grade. A variety unknown to early researchers and collectors, this was first reported by Edward Barnsley in the 1962 Colonial Newsletter, Volume 2, No. 3, and at the time just two were known: the Canfield specimen at ANS, and the William P. Keller coin. This piece was the third example discovered when it appeared in our February 1973 sale, and by the time we sold it in our 1987 Taylor sale, it was noted as one of four known. Though the number of survivors has risen, it has done so very slowly and seems to have plateaued at five. The finest among them seems to be the Neil Rothschild specimen that first turned up in the Heritage 1998 ANA sale. Raw, and graded VF-25 in the Rothschild sale, it is certainly sharper than this. The secondary Taylor coin was also sharper in terms of detail, but the surfaces were quite rough. This is probably the third finest, and it is worth recalling that one of the few known is in the ANS Collection and unavailable to collectors.

PCGS# 917730. NGC ID: 2B2X.

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From the Sydney F. Martin Collection. Earlier from our (Stack's) sale of the Norman Bryant Estate, February 1973, lot 22; Richard Picker; our (Bowers and Merena's) sale of the Frederick B. Taylor Collection, March 1987, lot 2619; Heritage's sale of the Donald G. Partrick Collection, November 2020, lot 44366.