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1053

1771 Counterfeit George II British Halfpenny, pseudo-Indian Head variety, with George III reverse. 1

Currency:USD Category:Coins & Paper Money Start Price:25.00 USD Estimated At:NA
1771 Counterfeit George II British Halfpenny, pseudo-Indian Head variety, with George III reverse. 1
1771 Counterfeit George II British Halfpenny, pseudo-Indian Head variety, with George III reverse. 107.8 grainsFine or so, somewhat weakly struck as is often the case for the variety. The obverse legend and portrait is full, the bust certainly looking much more like a Native American than a European if you look at the ribbons as more of a headdress than part of a laurel wreath. The reverse is weaker, with just the first and last couple letters visible, much of the weakness apparently due to die wear as it is common to all the specimens we have seen. While the date is indistinct, this reverse die is known in an earlier pairing and the 1771 date is certain, which makes this a mule with a George II obverse and a George III reverse. Medium brown, light marks, but with hard surfaces that are pleasing to the eye. This exact variety is plated in the first volume of the counterfeit book, detailing why it is not part of the Indian Family proper – though this cataloguer, who also wrote that chapter, admits that the family itself is rather tenuously held together by similarity of punches and style, and not die sharing. From the 1995 C4 sale, where it was given a lengthy description and a box around it; there called VF, though we think it misses that mark. It was also called the only example known, which was certainly not the case, as another example was in the Ringo collection, and others have since been found – though it is still quite scarce. The C4 cataloguer’s claims that the variety has a chance of being made in North America were a relic of the era that sale was written in, when anything crude was thought to be American; given the other use of this reverse, the variety was certainly struck in England, albeit with an odd obverse bust. There is no general agreement among collectors on whether to put mules such as this with their George II coins, or in with the George III coins of that date; as this auction catalogue offers them by obverse type, we will list the mules by obverse style, instead of in date order.
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