1787 Connecticut Copper. Miller 33.28-Z.11, W-3765. Rarity-5+. Draped Bust Left, Snipe Nose. VF-30 (PCGS).144.9 grains. Dark ebony brown and subtly granular in the fields, lighter golden brown where circulation has worn the highest points of the devices and legends, a pretty looking piece on the overall. As discussed in the pages of the <em>C4 Newsletter</em> by Charles W. Smith and Robert Martin himself, the fractional style Painted Die Variety using Hall’s attribution scheme in the left field is the mark of early Connecticut enthusiast William Wallace Hays, whose “circle H” round card accompanied this coin when last sold in 1994 but is no longer extant. Hays’ collection went to Ryder via Charles Steigerwalt’s October 1903 price list. Struck from a slightly later state of the dies, a couple small breaks now connect the die break in the right field to ON of CONNEC, and vertical die break through 7 of date connects rim to globe. A great coin with an even greater pedigree chain!From the Robert M. Martin Collection. Ex William Wallace Hays Collection; Hillyer Ryder Collection, via Charles Steigerwalt’s October 1903 Fixed Price List; F.C.C. Boyd Collection; John J. Ford, Jr.; Stack’s sale of June 8-10, 1994, part of lot 111.
