1723 Wood's Hibernia Farthing. Martin 3.2-Bc.10, W-12500. Rarity-5. Silver. Specimen-64 (PCGS).

This is a wonderfully original piece with a delicate patina of peach and ivory hues. The fields are smooth and considerably reflective, framing the brilliant and satiny luster that emphasizes the devices. A touch of pewter-gray indicates the high points, and the peripheries are accented by steel-blue and olive iridescence. Well centered and free from distracting marks of any sort. Wood's Hibernia farthings in silver were once considered to be incredibly rare, and Eric P. Newman had marked his own as "probably unique" at some point in the early 20th Century. However, a small hoard of about two dozen pieces came out of hiding in England during the late 1950s. First brought to light by Baldwin's of London, the pieces were housed in a silver tube with silver halfpenny ends; the group had descended directly from the Wood family into the hands of Albert Baldwin, whose firm then dispersed the lot. We later offered the silver tube with silver halfpenny ends in our September 2009 Americana Auction.

PCGS# 179. NGC ID: F7HP.

From our Baltimore Auction of October 2018, lot 2006.

Estimate: $7200