1786新泽西铜币 PCGS VF Details
1786 New Jersey Copper. Maris 24-M, W-4960. Rarity-7+. Wide Shield. VF Details--Environmental Damage (PCGS). This significant and desirable example offers a considerable amount of bold detail for this rare die marriage in the New Jersey copper series. The strike is nicely centered on both sides, the borders boldly and universally denticulated.
The horse and plow are generally sharp despite softness in the center of the obverse, the inscription NOVA CAESAREA crisp and the date identifiable despite the fact that the digit 1 is absent, digits 78 faint. For the reverse we note a fully outlined shield with many of the horizontal and vertical stripes clear. All letters in the Latin motto E PLURIBUS UNUM are sharp. The surfaces are dark charcoal-copper and rough overall, areas of moderate and shallow pitting evident in and around the centers. Light planchet striations in the center of the obverse are as made, neither side with any sizeable or otherwise individually mentionable marks. The extreme rarity of this die pairing is sure to result in keen interest in this rather pleasing mid grade example among advanced New Jersey copper enthusiasts.Interestingly for such a rare variety, both the obverse and reverse dies of Maris 24-M are readily obtainable in other pairings. For example, Maris 24-P is a Rarity-2 variety, while Maris 18-M is rated Rarity-3 in the Siboni-Howes-Ish New Jersey copper reference of 2013. Prior to 1969, however, these dies were unknown in a pairing together, and Maris 24-M remains a formidable rarity as of this writing. The discovery of Maris 24-M is attributed to William Anton, Jr., who cataloged the discovery coin for Harmer Rookes Million Dollar Sale of November 1969, where it was offered as lot 186. The Siboni-Howes-Ish reference relates Antons description of this discovery from the First New Jersey Symposium held in 1991:<em>"...in 1968 a friend of mine brought in a set of coins. Well, in there was a New Jersey that I kept looking at and flipping over that did not make any sense. I talked to management and they said to try to buy it for nothing. Well, I told him that Ray [Johnson] was a friend of mine and I could not do that but that I would try to acquire it as inexpensively as possible. So I called Ray and told him we were interested in the coins he brought in but, in particular, you have a unique New Jersey, a Maris 24-M. I asked him where he got it and he said a priest, of all people. I said I am authorized by the house to offer you $2500 for that coin. He asked me whether I could acquire the coin for my own account. I said, unfortunately no, I have a contract with Harmer Rooke and it must go to the house. Well, then, he said, it goes to auction. No one would believe that I being a New Jersey collector would let that coin go if it really was unique so no one bid on it. It ended by going to the book for $850. That was an amazing price as there were only two known at the time."</em>Anton ended up acquiring the coin after the sale.Although the second Maris 24-M was confirmed shortly after the discovery coin, as related by Anton, very few others have come to light since. Q. David Bowers was aware of only four examples when he penned his Encyclopedia of Colonial and Early American Coins for Whitman in 2009, while the Siboni-Howes-Ish reference accounts for five specimens. The discovery coin remains the finest known in EF, the census dropping quickly down to the Fine and VG levels. This newly discovered sixth known specimen was found unattributed at the January 2020 FUN Show and was soon after consigned to this auction and is arguably the second finest known for the die pairing, behind only the sharp and pleasing discovery coin. PCGS given grade of VF Details is not really reflective of the actual wear on this coin, as it was probably EF or AU when it acquired its surface texture, and this is readily seen in the details in the horses mane and in the shield lines. An example of this die marriage has not been offered on the auction market since the Scott Barnes specimen offered in the 2001 C4 sale, leaving a generation of collectors without access to any of the 5 specimens now holed up in lifelong New Jersey coppers collections. We anticipate that this coin will be as well received by New Jersey coppers collectors as were the voluminous and rare offerings in our November 2019 auction sale of the E Pluribus Unum Collection.
