Undated (ca. 1785) Bar Copper. W-8520. Rarity-4. EF-45 (PCGS).This is a boldly defined, generally well centered example with lack of detail confined to isolated portions of the denticulated borders. A tad rough in texture, yet free of sizeable blemishes, both sides exhibit pleasingly original ruddy-brown patina with a few swirls of deeper color within the bars on the reverse. One of the most eagerly sought numismatic items from the colonial and early federal era of United States history, the Bar copper is also one of the most enigmatic. We are not sure by whom or under what circumstances these pieces were produced. We are reasonably sure, however, that this type was struck circa 1785, as evidenced by an entry in the November 12, 1785, issue of the New Jersey Gazette that states:A new and curious kind of coppers have lately made their appearance in New York. The novelty and bright gloss of which keeps them in circulation. These coppers are in fact similar to Continental buttons without eyes; on the one side are thirteen stripes and on the other U.S.A., as was usual on the solders buttons.Other facts concerning these coins are circumstantial. Russell Rulau (as related by Q. David Bowers, Whitman Encyclopedia of Colonial and Early American Coins, 2009) believes that the Bar coppers were struck in Birmingham, England by Thomas Wyon. As the foregoing article makes clear, at least some of these coins found their way to the young United States, where a dearth of circulating specie meant that they were eagerly accepted in commerce. To create a circulating coinage for the United States may have been the minters intention all along, for the design would have been familiar to contemporary Americans. And circulate these coins did, for survivors are scarce in all grades, and most are well worn and/or impaired. An above average example, this pleasing Choice EF would fit comfortably into an advanced collection.From the Collection of Larry L. Terrell. Acquired from Mary Sauvain, January 1994.
