Undated (ca. 1785) Bar Copper. W-8520. Rarity-4. AU-55 (PCGS).A superior example of this classic early American type, both sides exhibit glossy, mostly orange-brown surfaces to provide strong eye appeal. We note only a few faint carbon spots to the obverse and similar color hiding among a few of the bars on the reverse. Light roughness to the surface texture is attributable to a slightly pitted planchet and/or minor die erosion -- in any case it is an struck feature, and there are no detracting abrasions or other handling marks. As is often the case for the type, the impression is slightly off center, the obverse drawn toward the viewers right and the reverse toward the viewers left. This is a minor feature, to be sure, as the design is boldly to sharply defined. A very handsome piece that stands as a highlight of the early American coinage being offered in this sale.<p>One of the most eagerly sought numismatic items from the colonial and early federal era of United States history, the Bar copper is also one of the most enigmatic. We are not sure by whom or under what circumstances these pieces were produced. We are reasonably sure, however, that this type was struck circa 1785, as evidenced by an entry in the November 12, 1785, issue of the <em>New Jersey Gazette</em> that states:<p><em>"A new and curious kind of coppers have lately made their appearance in New York. The novelty and bright gloss of which keeps them in circulation. These coppers are in fact similar to Continental buttons without eyes; on the one side are thirteen stripes and on the other U.S.A., as was usual on the solders buttons."</em><p>Other facts concerning these coins are circumstantial. Russell Rulau (as related by Q. David Bowers, <em>Whitman Encyclopedia of Colonial and Early American Coins</em>, 2009) believes that the Bar coppers were struck in Birmingham, England by Thomas Wyon. As the foregoing article makes clear, at least some of these coins found their way to the young United States, where a dearth of circulating specie meant that they were eagerly accepted in commerce. To create a circulating coinage for the United States may have been the minters intention all along, for the design would have been familiar to contemporary Americans. And circulate these coins did, for survivors are scarce in all grades, and most are well worn and/or impaired. Certainly an above average example, this pleasing Choice AU would fit comfortably into an advanced collection.PCGS# 599.Ex Don Taxay, 1970s; Howard Collection; our sale of the Howard Collection, August 2011 Chicago ANA Sale, lot 7174; Heritages sale of the Poulos Family Collection, Part II, September 2019 Long Beach Signature Auction, lot 4547.
