1787 Connecticut Copper. Miller 37.11-ff.2, W-4170. Rarity-5. Draped Bust Left, ETLIR. AU-50 (PCGS).164.4 grains. A Clark Obverse and Reverse Plate Coin. A most delightful coin, its rich mahogany brown surfaces aglow in mint frost in the protected areas, its strike quite full but a bit soft in the middle, without any of the original rough planchet surface showing through in the softly struck areas. A minuscule planchet flake is confined to the rim above the second group of ornaments on the reverse. Centering is decent, though a bit toward the left on the obverse, running the tops of the letters AUCTORI into a furrow created by a planchet cutter lip; the reverse is ideally centered, with a strong, full date. This coin is finer than the Pine Tree EAC “VF, ” the ill-struck Taylor “VG-8” which is technically finer, and the rough Fine/VF primary Ford coin; it is apparently the finest to appear at auction, though an example is plated in Randy Clark’s soon to be published reference and that was also published in CNL #74, September 1986, page 93, that may be a contender for the top spot. A choice example that would make a type collector happy and a die marriage collector ecstatic.From the Robert M. Martin Collection. Ex Stack’s Sale of the Herbert Oechsner Collection, September 9, 1988, lot 1163.
