166[?] (i.e. 1860s) Connecticut Shilling. Betts Fantasy. Silver. Extremely Fine.78.4 grains. 24.0mm x 26.0mm. Little worn but exhibiting some marks of "circulation" such as minor scratches and rim bruises, this coin glossy surfaces are golden silver-gray with hints of iridescence. Obverse reads [CO]NNECTICVT above, XII below, a crown in center; reverse reads IN / NEW / ENGLAN[D] / 166[?]. The irregularly shaped flan that does not accommodate the legends is probably an attempt to make the coin looked clipped down, as are many of the genuine Massachusetts silver coins that survive today. Though close doubling is noted throughout the legends and designs, none of the overstriking described in RF-17 in the December 1965 issue of <em>Colonial Newsletter</em> can be seen. Here is RF-17, quoted nearly in its entirety: "A Connecticut shilling. The specimen illustrated in the enlarged photograph reposes in the cabinet of Richard Picker. It was purchased as a curiosity at some convention from some fellow who offered it as an obvious forgery. It appears to be of silver and is overstruck on its own undertype, inverted and rotated so that the obverse is overstruck on the reverse, etc. The cross on the crown of the undertype is seen between the N of NEW and the E of ENGLAND…The date may be 1665 but it is difficult to determine the final digit with certainty. As this piece is unquestionably struck from dies, other specimens may exist." When offered as part of the Picker Collection in the Coin Galleries Sale, it was catalogued as a Betts fantasy, as offered here. Though Betts did create a Connecticut shilling, this one is different than the one offered by W. Elliot Woodward in his McCoy Sale of May 1864, described as: "Connecticut Shilling: Obv.-Grape vine, Connecticut in, Rev.--New England, An. Do. 1662, XII. Struck over an unique N.E. Shilling, (not Wyatts, ) silver, very fine, excessively rare, and in respect to the N.E. Shilling, unique." This piece seems to have been offered again in Woodwards October 1864 sale, though with a more fragmentary description. The example offered here may be an otherwise undocumented Betts fantasy or may be the work of a Betts imitator. The acquisition of this coin was natural for Robert-it is a 19th century fantasy bridging his interest in the 17th century New England silver coinages of the Massachusetts Bay Colony with his interest in the 18th century copper coinages of the State of Connecticut!From the Robert M. Martin Collection. From the Rickard Picker Collection, Coin Galleries, November 7, 1990, lot 2507.
