1786 New Jersey Copper. Maris 23-R, W-4945. Rarity-3. Narrow Shield, Curved Plow Beam--Counterstamped (Bird Head) / AB--VG-8 (PCGS). 137.0 grains.<p><p>An oddball highlight from the E Pluribus Unum Collection, just the sort of thing that spoke to Syd more than just about anyone. We described it in 2019 as follows:<p>"Counterstamped on the reverse with a birds head in a confirming cartouche and AB in a crenellated rectangular cartouche by Andrew Billings, a Poughkeepsie silversmith active during the last quarter of the 18th century. Billings was considered the most prominent of Poughkeepsies silversmiths and served during the American Revolution on the state of New Yorks Commission for Detecting and Defeating Conspiracies, a body as useful then as it would be now. He closed his business in 1805, but sometime before his retirement, this copper passed through his shop to acquire his distinctive marks. The surfaces are medium brown and finely granular, but thats totally beside the point."<p><p>Any counterstamped New Jersey is rare, but one that is both identifiable and this distinctive is unique. Aside from being interesting and appealing in a visual sense, a piece like this offers a data point about the circulation of New Jersey coppers that wouldnt exist without it, namely, that this type was circulating north of New York City sometime between its manufacture and 1805. PCGS# 763319. From the Sydney F. Martin Collection. Earlier from our sale of the E Pluribus Unum Collection, November 2019, lot 6063.
