1785 Vermont copper. Ryder-1, W-2250. Rarity-5. IMMUNE COLUMBIA. EF-40 (PCGS).124.9 grains. An unusually high grade example of this always-crude bridge between the Vermont copper series and the Immune Columbia coppers. Attractive medium brown with some darker toning in recessed areas. Some gloss on the obverse closely parallels faded mint frost, and the devices show little actual circulation wear at all. The planchet is quite good for one of these, despite the short irregular fissure that manifests near the base of the obverse and the upper left of the reverse. Some of the original planchet texture was not fully obliterated at the moment of striking on the central reverse device, but no corrosion is seen whatsoever. The obverse legend is complete, as is the reverse legend but for the top half of the I of IMMUNE and the E of that word, affected by the planchet crack. The top half of all four of the date digits are on the planchet (though somewhat obscured by the plastic encapsulation). Only a single tiny rim nick above the liberty cap is worth noting. Though eye appeal is not the reason most collectors seek out an example of this variety, this one has it in abundance. <p>It is difficult to even know where to begin when working on a census of the best known Ryder-1s: is a specimen with choice color and surface but with a poor strike and no date finer than a well detailed one that’s more flawed and perhaps more worn? The second Ford coin (Ford I:12) was the nicer of the two coins in the Ryder-Boyd collection, and Partrick’s NGC VF-35 was exceptional too (thus why it realized $54,050). This piece is a first-rate example and, if someone ever assembled a sensible census, would almost certainly be included.<p>PCGS Population: 1, none finer.From the Archangel Collection. Earlier, from Stack’s 1976 American Numismatic Association sale, August 1976, lot 37; the William Sumner Appleton Collection, to the collection of the Massachusetts Historical Society by bequest in 1905.
