Undated (ca.1616) Sommer Islands Twopence. BMA Type II. W-11410. Rarity-7. Large Star Between Legs. Fine-12 (PCGS).11.0 grains. 17.4 x 17.0 mm. A worthy example of this smallest entry in the Sommer Islands series. The obverse exhibits superb sharpness, with a crisp denomination, well defined hogge, good beaded border that approaches completeness, along with sharp ground and the distinctive star between the hogges legs. The reverse shows thorough roughness and pitting which, though muting finer design details, still allows for a strong outline to the ship, visible S and I, and plentiful visible beading at top. The obverse is relatively smooth, with a patch of granularity above the hogges snout. A pit is present under the third leg, just right of 6 oclock. The rim is a little uneven between 4 oclock and 6 oclock. Strong eye appeal, a very desirable specimen of this type. The Sommer Islands twopence is a classic rarity among early American coins, struck for the island of Bermuda just a year after that island was divided away from the domains of the Virginia Company. Among the 19 Sommer Islands pieces found at Castle Island and published in the 1998 <em>Bermuda Journal of Archaeology and Maritime History</em>, not one was a twopence. We were fortunate enough to offer the Norweb specimen of the type in May 2007 after a 20 year absence from the marketplace, and in the description of that coin we listed 21 specimens we could confirm, more than half of which were impounded. Since 2007, one of those pieces is no longer impounded, the Eric Newman coin, a Small Star type now graded VF-30 (PCGS) that was sold by Heritage for $49,350 in August 2015. Two more have also come to market: a PCGS Fine-15 that sold for $51,750 in our March 2012 sale, and a PCGS AG-3 that brought $18,400 in our (Stacks) January 2011 Americana Sale. With provenance back to 1975, the present example is an important member of this limited census.PCGS Population: 1; 4 finer.Purchased from Lester Merkin on August 29, 1975; our sale of the Henry P. Kendall Foundation Collection, March 2015, lot 2447.
