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1084

1775 Counterfeit George III British Halfpenny, British Toon Head Family, Dies 1-75A.

Currency:USD Category:Coins & Paper Money Start Price:25.00 USD Estimated At:NA
1775 Counterfeit George III British Halfpenny, British Toon Head Family, Dies 1-75A.
1775 Counterfeit George III British Halfpenny, British Toon Head Family, Dies 1-75A.109.8 grains. Very Fine, some areas just a tad weaker, others stronger than that grade, a wholly respectable example of this dramatic, crude counterfeit. The rather simple-looking bust with a vacant expression has hair and wreath composed of deeply cut lines without any finer detail, as does the dress that Britannia wears, and the shield by her side, all appearing more like caricature sketches, their very crudeness easily proclaiming this a counterfeit. The S in GEORGIVS is backwards, and the N in BRITAN was punched in upside down and then corrected, but with the original diagonal still visible, along with a serif above the lower right base of the letter – one wonders why this was so important for the engraver to correct when the obverse error was not, or whether anyone would have looked at this at the time and thought it a genuine issue to begin with. One feature of the British Toon family (there is an Irish version of this family as well, both covered in the first volume of the book series) is that the head and neck of Britannia was made with a prepared punch, while her torso was hand-engraved; the head punch, as here, is often slightly tilted or off so that it doesn’t quite line up with her body. Medium brown, the surfaces hard to the eye, with light roughness visible under a glass, and the only circulation marks of note are some light scratches in the right obverse field which have toned down to the surface color. Despite the crudeness of the dies, most examples of this variety are heavily circulated. Once considered rare, this is probably the most available variety in the family, which allows the collector to get a “WOW” looking counterfeit at very reasonable price levels.
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