1759 (1982) Pattern Martha Washington Cent. Judd-2180, Pollock-4100. Rarity-7+. Copper-Plated Zinc. Plain Edge. MS-63 RD (PCGS). Obv: A right-facing bust of Martha Washington with the word VIRGINIA above and the fantasy date 1759 below. The inscription MARTHA WASHINGTON is present in the lower right field before the bust. Rev: Three-quarter view of the Washington family home at Mount Vernon with the inscription MOUNT VERNON below. The inscription HOME OF THE WASHINGTON FAMILY is present around the border. Lustrous and vivid rose-red surfaces with only a few wispy carbon spots precluding an even higher grade. As noted at the <em>uspatterns.com</em> website:<em>This design was first used in 1965. The obverse was designed by Edward R. Grove and the reverse is by Philip Fowler. This design has since become the Mints all-purpose dies for testing new alloys.</em><em>It is likely that this piece was struck outside the Mint from one of the vendors the Mint gave these dies to. Among the possibilities include IDX Inc, PMX Industries and the Olin Brass Corporation. Because of this, we have assigned it number P4100.</em><em>The reason for their striking may have been to test the new copper coated zinc planchets for the Mint. If this is the case, then this was probably struck around 1982.</em><em></em>We are able to confirm at least part of this supposition through this coins consignor to our December 2020 Auction, who was kind enough to relate to us the manner in which he acquired this particular example of the Martha Washington cent. Since these pieces were produced under a variety of circumstances, the following does not necessarily explain when and for what purpose all Martha Washington cent-size test pieces were struck.During the early 1980s our consignor worked for a company that specialized in rebuilding presses. Although he does not remember the exact year, it was around that time when four to six cent presses were sent to his companys facility for a complete overhaul. He believes the source of these presses was the Mints West Point facility. During the three to four months that the presses were in his companys care, they were completely disassembled, cleaned, rescraped, rebearinged, fitted for automatic oilers (our consignors job), repainted, and test run. After the overhaul was complete, Mint personnel came to the facility with a roller bin filled with blanks for testing. The bin had a locked cover, and the Mint personnel explained the strict inventory control procedures that needed to be followed in handling the blanks.Shortly after, the Mints press operators arrived, installed the coining dies in the newly overhauled presses, and test ran each machine over thousands of cycles, which took a couple of days. The samples struck during these test runs were carefully collected and taken from our consignors facility, along with all unstruck blanks and, some time later, the presses. Apparently, however, the Mint personnel were not as thorough with their quality control as intended, for as our consignor explains:<em>...I remembered having to repair a circuit breaker box near where some of the presses were rebuilt and tested. It was months after the coin presses had left. I set my tools and multimeter down on the floor and noticed some shiny copper strips wedged in a gap between the poured floor and the cinderblock wall and in a control cut. I got a popsicle stick (used for mixing epoxy) and carefully lifted them out of the gap. They were the 1759 test pennies [sic]. I put them in my tool box...I guess they are uncirculated, they were coined/minted, fell off the press and rolled into those gaps, then landed in my tool box.</em>For nearly 40 years our consignor forgot about these special coins until, earlier in 2020 and while preparing to move, he rediscovered them in one of his old tool chests. Stacks Bowers Galleries was honored to have been chosen to present one of these special test pieces in what, at that time, was its first public offering, and we are equally honored to reoffer it in the present sale to the further benefit of our bidders. All Martha Washington text pieces are scarce to rare - regardless of size, metallic composition, or striking period - and they have proved increasingly popular with specialists in the numismatic market of the 21st century. PCGS# 509489. From our December 2020 Auction, lot 2527.
