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1099

1781 Counterfeit George III British Halfpenny, Newman 40-81A. 132.8 grains.

Currency:USD Category:Coins & Paper Money Start Price:25.00 USD Estimated At:NA
1781 Counterfeit George III British Halfpenny, Newman 40-81A. 132.8 grains.
1781 Counterfeit George III British Halfpenny, Newman 40-81A. 132.8 grains.The stellar Mike Ringo coin, sold in the 1998 C4 auction, which contained his 1781 and 1785 counterfeit halfpence, still the largest offering of these dates, where this was Lot 414, had enlarged photographs and was ably described by Tom Rinaldo as: “MS63. A stunner to start off with. Hard lustrous light brown surfaces, perfectly centered with crisp and even detail. Both sides show signs of the minting proves with vertical thin roller striae still at the centers. The obverse has a few small areas toned slightly ruddy, the largest at the cheek and between the shoulders. Also light gray deposits within the bow, X, and lower breast plate. No marks, nicks, or other damage. It is hard to conceive of this not being the finest known of this variety. While not full weight, this is good weight for a copper counterfeit, and the dies were executed with obvious skill. It has been speculated that the 1781 date was used since it was during that year that the British crown resumed mintage of lawful Irish halfpennies. Their British counterpart, however, failed to materialize.” This was a stellar coin to begin the Ringo offering, and a stellar one to also start off Neil’s collection of 1781 and 1785-dated pieces. The only thing to add to Tom’s description is that the coin shows nice hints of original luster. While Eric Newman mistakenly thought the 1785’s were made specifically for North America and thought the 1781s were at least American-relevant, he did an admirable job (with Mike Ringo’s help) in cataloguing the varieties in 1988 in Museum Notes 33, published by the American Numismatic Society. The 1781 and 1785 families were covered in the first volume of the counterfeit book series, which included varieties discovered since the Newman publication; out of respect for his groundbreaking research these two dates retain their “Newman number” variety designations. While no longer the Rarity-7 it was in the Ringo sale, this example has remained the finest this cataloguer has ever seen – and is finer than the example used to plate the variety in the book as well. Syd Martin’s coin was a Choice VF, and Eric Newman’s own example was a VF (though graded there as Fine); the Stack’s Bowers archives contain just two examples of this variety, both in low grade.. This brought $2,200 in the Ringo sale, and has been off the market for exactly a quarter century, and we suspect that once sold it will remain in another collection for a substantial amount of time as well.
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