1786 New Jersey Copper. Maris 12-G, W-4790. Rarity-4. No Coulter, Shaggy Mane. EF-45 (PCGS). 152.3 grains. 28.5 mm. Reverse oriented a few degrees counterclockwise from medal turn. A spectacular No Coulter type coin, one of the finest known examples of one of the few readily available varieties of this major type. Deeply glossy rich medium brown with outstanding surfaces and visual appeal. A couple of trivial fissures are present at the obverse periphery, including above EA of CAESAREA and below 1 of the date. Aside from some natural planchet texture at the soft spot at central reverse, this piece shows absolutely minimal marks. The overall technical and aesthetic quality are positively superb. This is the kind of New Jersey copper that is so pretty and so close to perfect that if a variety specialist tried to hew to this kind of standard, theyd end up with about six different varieties.<p>There are a fair number of Maris 12-Gs around, certainly more than most of the No Coulter combos, and at least a handful of them are pretty nice. The Spiro-Oechsner coin is ranked number one, followed by five EFs, including this one. Though this one is ranked fifth finest in the Siboni-Howes-Ish census, your cataloger would rank it above at least two of those ranked at higher positions based upon its various levels of appeal and near perfection for the grade. PCGS# 767871. From the Sydney F. Martin Collection. Earlier ex Andy Lustig at the 1997 C4 convention; Anthony Terranova; Lawrence R. Stack Collection, November 2006.
