1785 Contemporary Imitation Halfpenny. George III English Type. Newman 53-85D. Very Fine.115.3 grains. A combination of two dies that were both unknown to Newman when he wrote his article on the 1785 halfpence published in 1988, the 53-85D was first discovered on eBay in July 2006 in a group lot of halfpence listed as detecting finds by a British seller. This specimen was offered in our (Stacks) September 2009 Philadelphia Americana Sale, where it was described as: <p><p>A newly discovered specimen of this extremely rare variety, part of the 1781 and 1785-dated family first described by C. Wyllys Betts before Eric Newman made them well known. Further explication has appeared in the pages of the Colonial Newsletter, especially serial numbers 132 and 133. Lovely glossy light brown surfaces are essentially smooth, showing just the most minuscule granularity at extreme peripheries. Various tiny marks are seen, an old scrape in front the brow most notable. The rims show a goodly amount of very minor rim nicks; though they encircle much of the circumference, none are individually serious and the legends are not seriously affected. The 1785 date is well struck, bold, and entirely on the planchet. Among the tiny number of this variety known, this undoubtedly ranks very high within the census. Eric Newman did not know of either this obverse or this reverse in his then-definitive study.<p>Since the discovery of Newman 53-85D in 2006, the landscape for 1785-dated counterfeit halfpence die marriages has remained stable at ten. As most all of the 1785s, this remains very rare with just a small handful of specimens known and will undoubtedly prove to be an important acquisition for a collector looking to complete a die marriage set of these intriguingly dated halfpence. <p>From the Sydney F. Martin Collection. Earlier from our (Stacks) Philadelphia Americana Sale, September 2009, lot 4173.
