1787 Connecticut Copper. Miller 39.1-h.1, W-4210. Rarity-5. Draped Bust Left, AUCTOBI. AU-50 (PCGS).138.0 grains. Dark ruddy brown, the reverse a shade deeper than the obverse, the glossy fields aglow with mint frost where not affected by this coin’s briefest time in hand to hand commerce. What wear is present on this coin is minimal, much of the central obverse design is missing due more to the softness of the strike than to circulation wear. Relatively well centered, with minor loss to the bottoms of the date digits, while a shallow, mint-made straight planchet clip below effigy’s chest does not intrude upon any of the designs or legends. Seemingly finer than Taylor’s VF-20, finer than the Miller-Ryder-Boyd-Ford “Very Fine, ” and finer than Perkins’ “Choice Very Fine” called “Among the Finest Known” at the time. Notable finer pieces include the superb New Netherlands 51st Sale coin, the Choice Unc primary Ford coin as well as the duplicate sold in our (Stack’s) June 1994 sale. Here is a wonderfully high-grade example of the AUCTOBI spelling, known by only 3 die marriages, all of which are R-5!From the Robert M. Martin Collection. Ex Bowers and Merena’s Sale of the Collection of Stuart C. Levine, April 10-11, 1986, lot 863.
