(C. 1792) Washington Born Virginia Copper. Eagle with 13 Stars Reverse. Musante GW-34, Baker-22M, W-10710. AU-53 (PCGS).，174.1 grains. 30.2 mm. This is one of the great rarities in the Washingtoniana series; our (Stacks) offering of this piece in 2006 represented the first public offering for the type since 1951. In any condition, this would be a memorable and important offering, but as luck would have it this piece is also remarkably choice. Rich glossy dark chocolate brown with smooth and lively surfaces that retain faint traces of luster. The sharpness is excellent on both sides. A tiny rim bruise below the letters EB in FEB is an identifying feature. There is a minor patch of roughness near the truncation of the bust and a tiny rim bruise in the vicinity, yet the piece is very attractive overall.<p>Fuld commented in his 1995 ANS Coinage of the Americans Conference (COAC) article that this variety is "very rare, only three reported." Those three are this piece, earlier listed on the Newcomer inventory as 2772, the Mickley-Cohen-Holland-Appleton piece impounded in the Massachusetts Historical Society, and the Brand-B.G. Johnson-"private collection" piece in the Eric P. Newman Numismatic Educational Society collection. Fuld describes the last specimen as "some wear, overall green patina, Fine," while he grades the MHS specimen as VG. This information, if complete, leaves the present specimen as <em>the finest known by a considerable margin.</em> None was in Steinberg, LaRiviere, Collins, Roper, Garrett, or Ford. In another era, this variety was not represented in Bushnell, Crosby, Jackman, McCoy, Colburn, or Parsons. The Crosby plate piece appears to be a made-up muling rather than images of the obverse and reverse of the same coin; the only example known of this variety when Crosby wrote was in the collection of Col. Mendes I. Cohen. The <em>Guide Book</em> has also used a composite; this variety is unpriced therein and listed as "3 known."<p>Historically, this muling connects the Hancock patterns to the Washington Born Virginia coppers, all products of the Hancock-Westwood partnership along with Westwoods later Washington medals, the Large Eagle and Small Eagle cents, and the Roman Head cents. The intent of the muling is not known; this combination of dies does not meet the requirements of the 1791 version of the Mint Act and thus cannot really be considered a pattern. In that way, it is very similar to Baker-59, essentially its numismatic converse. It is, however, an extraordinary rarity that joins the only important Washington pattern issue of English manufacture to one of the most popular of the coin-sized Washington medals. The significance of this offering should be self-evident to Washingtoniana specialists as well as collectors of early American and related coinage.，PCGS# 726.，，Ex Waldo C. Newcomer Collection; B. Max Mehl, sold privately; Virgil Brand Collection and Estate, sold privately; New Netherlands Coin Company, sold privately; our (Stacks) sale of the Norweb Collection, November 2006, lot 2023; our (Stacks) Treasures from the S.S. New York sale (but from a different consignment), July 2009, lot 47. Plated in Fulds 1995 COAC, the Rulau-Fuld Washingtoniana reference, Walter Breens 1988 encyclopedia, and Q. David Bowers 2009 Whitman <em>Encyclopedia of Colonial and Early American Coins.</em>
