1787 New Jersey Copper. Maris 38-a, W-5180. Rarity-5. Outlined Shield, Small Head. VG-10 (PCGS). 150.0 grains. 27.5 mm. Reverse aligned slightly left of proper coin turn. Attractive two-tone, with light brown devices and darker mahogany fields. Glossy despite scattered fissures on the obverse, somewhat more granular on the reverse, where some dark scale blends in. Fairly well centered on both sides, though aligned slightly to 6:00 on the obverse. The date is not visible but other design elements are quite bold for the assigned grade. A thin scratch crosses from S of CAESAREA to the horses ear, another subtle scrape at the coulter tip. This is actually a fairly attractive example of a tough variety, one that rarely appears in nice grade. Four VF- coins fill out the lower ranks on the SHI Census. The finest known is the PCGS EF-40 sold in our E Pluribus Unum sale, earlier from the 1987 Taylor sale. Partricks, ex Stickney and Ford, was ranked second and sold in March 2021 as NGC EF-40. PCGS# 766287. From the Sydney F. Martin Collection. Earlier from our (Coin Galleries) sale of November 1988, lot 1262; John Griffee Collection to Glen Ivey Collection; McCawley and Grellmans 2004 C4 Convention sale, November 2004, lot 332; Clem Schettino, November 2004.
