1787 Connecticut Copper. Miller 37.3-i, W-4110. Rarity-3. Draped Bust Left. MS-60 BN (PCGS).

Truly lustrous deep and rich brown surfaces are accented by nuances of pale blue while vestiges of deeply faded red can still be detected in some of the finer recesses. Essentially free of handling marks aside from a trivial hairline scratch noticed on the obverse, passing between U and C and extending to the neck. Struck on a deeply flawed flan, giving this piece a lot of character in addition to quality! A broad shallow groove extends up the right side of the reverse, which was clearly a natural flaw that did not strike out. The thinness of the flan in that area resulted in poor definition on the opposing obverse area. Both areas affected exhibit rough natural planchet texture. One letter of the legends, the first E of CONNEC is lost to this and a couple of other letters are weak, but all others are crisp and clear. The Robert Martin specimen in our November 2019 sale:5253 was thought by him to be the finest known. Graded AU-58 by PCGS, that coin was obviously more complete in terms of design expression, but this might actually be better preserved. The same is true of the finest examples in Newman and Partrick. This might well be technically the finest known (as noted on Syd's envelope), though those with slightly inferior surfaces but much more detail will easily be deemed the best coins overall by many collectors. This one seems to have been unreported to Robert Martin.

PCGS# 687367. NGC ID: 2B2X.

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From the Sydney F. Martin Collection. Earlier ex Christopher B. Young, March 2004.