1788 Connecticut Copper. Miller 14.2-A.2, W-4580. Rarity-5. Draped Bust. AU-53 (PCGS).120.0 grains. Another beautiful high-grade coin from the landmark John Ford holdings. Glossy chocolate brown with subtle olive mottling and a couple of obverse accents of deep steel. A few tiny nicks and marks are noted, but they blend in with the light natural roughness in the areas that are not fully struck up. Most of the surface, however, is smooth and hard and both the impression and the preservation are nice enough for this piece to exhibit faint die finishing marks. This in itself is rather outstanding. Both sides are centered a little high. On the obverse this affects the top of the effigy’s head, along with most of the letters of the legend, from the U of AUCTORI to the O of CONNEC. The reverse is better centered with only the tops of ET LI compromised by the rim. The unevenly engraved date is full at the left, and fades into the rim at the right.pCalled “superior” and “one of the nicest seen” in our 2005 Ford sale, and we have seen none finer since. It is nicer than Oechsner, Perkins, Collection SLT or even the Pine Tree 1975 coin. Only the ex Hall-Brand-Taylor coin seems to be markedly better among those we have handled. Eric Newman did not have this variety. A lovely coin with a superb provenance.From the Twin Leaf Collection of Connecticut & Massachusetts Coppers. Earlier ex Henry C. Miller, Thomas Elder, May 1920:2060; Hillyer C. Ryder (tag included); F.C.C. Boyd; John J. Ford, Jr., Stack’s, Ford Part IX, May 2005:494.
