10078

1737 COPPER Higley Copper, THE VALVE OF THREEPENC

Currency:USD Category:Coins & Paper Money Start Price:60,000.00 USD Estimated At:1.00 - 1,000,000.00 USD
1737 COPPER Higley Copper, THE VALVE OF THREEPENC
<B>1737<COPPER> Higley Copper, THE VALVE OF THREEPENCE VF35 NGC.</B></I> Breen-238, Crosby Plate VIII-18, Freidus 1.2-A. Dr. Samuel Higley of Granby, Connecticut was a medical doctor with a degree from Yale College. In 1728, he purchased a copper mine near Granby. He successfully mined and exported copper to England. Circa 1737, he made the first of a series of copper tokens. The obverse depicted a deer and the legend, THE VALVE OF THREEPENCE. The reverse displayed three crowned hammers, and the legends CONNECTICVT and 1737. Since the weight of the Higley Coppers was much lighter than the copper equivalent of threepence, these pieces were apparently not always received with gratitude, and in later series the explicit obverse denomination was replaced with VALUE ME AS YOU PLEASE.<BR> The present example is boldly detailed for a Higley copper. Except for THE, the obverse legends are clear. The deer and hammers have pleasing definition, and the reverse legends are bold aside from the bottom of the 737 in the date. The surfaces are moderately granular, as Higleys are typically encountered, and the color alternates from golden-brown to ebony. A pair of old curved pinscratches reach the deer's antlers. On the Bolen copy (Crosby Plate VIII, 30) the top crown points to nearly the center of the C, instead of the left edge. The Crosby Plate VIII, 17 obverse features the N in PENCE half past the line of the deer's ground. Listed on page 33 of the 2005 <I>Guide Book.</B></I><BR><I>Ex: F.C.C. Boyd estate; John J. Ford, Jr. Collection, Part II (Stack's, 5/04), lot 268.</B></I>