Undated (ca. 1652-1674) St. Patrick Halfpenny. Martin 2-C, W-11540. Rarity-6+. Small Letters. VF-25 (PCGS).

126.2 grains. This piece features a strong strike for the type, ideally centered, with softness due primarily to moderate wear that explains the grade. All major design elements are bold, the design fully appreciable. Surfaces are hard and glossy with warm medium brown high points, deep steely-copper recesses. Very faint traces of the splasher are discernible atop the crown and in the field before King David's face. A very rare and distinctive variety of St. Patrick halfpenny featuring the "checkerboard floor" obverse per Breen in his Encyclopedia (Breen-201). An elusive Martin number, as well, Syd recorded just six examples in his 2018 reference. A handful more have appeared in recent auctions but there are likely not much more than a dozen known altogether.

PCGS# 902841. NGC ID: AUAS.

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From the Sydney F. Martin Collection. Earlier ex Mike Wierzba, May 2016.