1737 Higley copper. VALUE ME AS YOU PLEASE / I AM GOOD COPPER. Three hammers. Freidus 3.1-B.a, W-8240. F-12 (PCGS).144.3 grains. Beautiful even dark chocolate brown surfaces are glossy and essentially smooth, certainly excellent for a Higley. Axial misalignment of the dies has left the upper left side of the obverse far less sharp than the lower right. The reverse is a bit better off, somewhat weak at center but mostly clear around the peripheries, including a good bold four-digit date. On the obverse OU PLEASE, the denomination III, and VAL are all very bold, as is all of the deer but for the front of its snout. Denticles frame much of the lower right and bottom of the obverse. Other obverse legends are soft and low-contrast, but present. On the reverse, GOOD COPP is very bold, the date is good and clear, and other peripheral elements lack legibility. Marks are small, scattered, and grade appropriate. This piece offers the sort of prime and highly original eye appeal expected of a colonial coin with an Ellsworth-Garrett provenance.<p>This is the finest of five examples of the VALUE ME AS YOU PLEASE variety certified by PCGS, only two of which grade VG or better. Freidus accounted for eight specimens, three of which were impounded in institutional collections: Simsbury Historical Society, Connecticut Historical Society, and the Smithsonian Institution. A fourth was thought impounded at the time; the Newman specimen was graded VF Details, Scratches (NGC) when sold in 2014, showing good sharpness but significant criss-cross scratches on the obverse. The Scherff coin was graded AG-3 (PCGS) when sold in our March 2010 sale, and the Ted Craige specimen was certified as G-6 (PCGS) when it brought $64,624 in our March 2013 sale. Any Higley is a classic, and those with the VALUE ME AS YOU PLEASE come with the charming story of Dr. Higleys ingenious commentary against apparent criticism of his halfpenny-sized threepence.PCGS Population: 1, none finer.From the Archangel Collection. Earlier, from Bowers and Ruddy’s sale of the Garrett Collection, Part III, October 1980, lot 1304; Henry Chapman’s sale of the Bascom and Brown Collections, January 1915, lot 41; Col. James W. Ellsworth Collection to John Work Garrett in 1923.
