1722 Rosa Americana Halfpenny. Martin 2.1-B.1, W-1218. Rarity-4. D:G: REX. MS-63 (PCGS).56.2 grains. An exquisite little piece, sharp and glossy, with a wealth of fine detail against a backdrop of golden brown. The obverse retains a bit mo of the original golden tone than the reverse, but both sides are just lovely. The portrait shows a bit of a double profile, and the letters of the peripheral legend are likewise doubled. The surfaces are hard and glossy, choice and unflawed but for a few natural pits above George’s nose. This may well be the finest known of this variety, which is almost always encountered in circulated grades. PCGS has graded three at this grade level and one finer; we have now offered all three. The Craige specimen, lot 8 from our March 2013 sale, realized $4,406.25. The other, lot 6020 from our 2011 ANA sale, netted $6,612.50 and was the nicer of those two. This one actually offers better central sharpness than the 2011 ANA coin but shows similarly nice color and surface. It’s hard to imagine a nicer one will come to market in the foreseeable future, in fact, it may not exist at all.<p><p>From the E Pluribus Unum Collection.
