| Description: |
129.1 grains. 27.2 mm. A pleasing example of this popular variety of circulating
counterfeit halfpence, showing better surface quality than the piece that brought $483 as
lot 332 in our June 2006 ANR sale. Even light steel with some faded color around devices
that remains from a light cleaning long-ago. Minutely granular on both sides but not to
any sort of offensive extent, minor planchet striation above laurel sprig on reverse. A
couple of tiny rim nicks are the only flaws worthy of note. As we noted back in June,
"This piece, called the "Puffy Head," has its own family named for it in
the Schettino disk and naming system, where this is called 7514CVS. The use of this
reverse with another variety makes this piece particularly important as the types and
sources of the various counterfeits continue to be sorted out. One of the first varieties
to get its own colorful nickname, and a fine addition to an early American collection.
Every colonial cabinet should include an example of the coin type—counterfeit British
halfpence—that dominated 18th-century American small change more than any other." |
