1777年半便士 PCGS VF 30
1777 Circulating Counterfeit Halfpenny. Vlack 10-77A. Rarity-7+. Machin’s Mills Related. VF-30 (PCGS).91.8 grains. One of the rarest counterfeits included on Bob Vlack’s plates, though unlinked to the Machin’s Mills series that Vlack first organized. Breen termed this variety “provenance uncertain, though conceded to be American.” In 1983, Eric Newman wrote to Gary Trudgen that he did not own a Vlack 10-77A, but did “have five other different 1777 British half pence.” There appear to be just five or six of these, and this is quite clearly the finest. The surfaces are a nice rich brown, even in color although the texture is not quite as consistent. The centering is good but not perfect, with the top half of the letters of GEORGIVS off the planchet, but III REX bold, the portrait and cuirass complete, and date nice and bold. The seated figure’s crudity is easily seen, and most of the reverse legend is apparent. The rims are a bit crude, as made, beveled right of 12:00 and left of 6:00 on the obverse and a bit incomplete atop the reverse. No heavy marks are seen, just some pinscratches from this coin’s stay in circulation and a natural pit between the portrait’s chin and EX of REX.<p><p>Mike Ringo was able to find one of these, presumably in the wild. Worn and holed as it is, it brought $2,760 over a decade ago in our 2008 Americana sale. The Warren Baker specimen, easily the most interesting example to have survived, is overstruck on a brockage and has been famous since its appearance in the 1987 Frederick Taylor sale. Acquired by Doug Robins, it was unceremoniously dispatched in a group lot sold by another auction house that missed its significance entirely; the winning bidder understood it much better. This piece has more legends and more date, in addition to more raw sharpness, than any other survivor. Its color and surface are average or better, and its position atop the Condition Census seems secure. While its connection to America is less certain, this variety’s rarity has persisted even as its legend has grown. This is the only example certified by PCGS.<p><p><p>From the E Pluribus Unum Collection. Earlier from Classical Numismatic Group’s Sale 87, May 2011, lot 2041; our ANA Sale of August 2011, lot 7172.Q261
