?76? Contemporary Counterfeit Halfpenny. George III Irish Type. Fine.78.6 grains. Described by Syd in his notes as Round, comical head. Hand cut lettering with legends about half full on obverse and reverse. Reverse harp strings are clumsily cut. Decent copper. To which we can add that weve seen a lot of crude Irish counterfeits, but nothing quite like this one. Most of the devices and legends are quite soft, but the ORG and III on the obverse are so bold that they almost appear to have been added to the coin later, much like a counterstamp, though they were not. The reverse legend is fragmentary and nearly fills the entire circumference of that side, the first and fourth digits of the date are not visible, though the obverse type is that used on genuine halfpence in 1766 and 1769. If other examples exist from these dies, they are undoubtedly few, as we do not recall having seen another in over 30 years studying the series.From the Sydney F. Martin Collection. Earlier ex John Kraljevich, 2015.
