| Description: |
A marvelous coin, one of the neatest large cents we have ever seen. Although this cent has
no date, the details of the Liberty design punch (with beaded hair cords) and the
positions of the leaves to lettering in the reverse legend allow for positive attribution.
A spectacular error, struck upon a well-worn 1731 George II British halfpenny rather than
a virgin copper planchet. Nearly all of the king's visage is plain at central obverse,
along with complete peripheral obverse legends except for the first few letters of
GEORGIVS. Only a portion of the reverse lettering persists, with enough of the date that
it is determinable among the possible dates of the Young Head halfpenny type. The surfaces
show scattered roughness, strongest at peripheries, with some minor corrosion on the
reverse. A few dull nicks and old scratches are also noted outside the reverse wreath.
As
noted in the description of Lot 473, large cents struck on other coins (also known as
double denominations) are extremely rare, indeed, only two are known—this piece and Lot
473! The undertype of this coin, a century old when it unwittingly became a large cent
planchet, could have been circulating in 1838 and may have erroneously become mixed into a
batch of normal cent planchets. This type of error surpasses nearly every other striking
error possible on a large cent in terms of rarity. We are pleased to be the first to
describe this exciting piece for the benefit of large cent and error enthusiasts.Please
see lot 473 for the only other known large cent struck atop a foreign coin, a 1833 N-1 on
an 1806 George III halfpenny. |
