1788 New Jersey Copper. Maris 51-g, W-5480. Rarity-5+. Head Left, Batman Shield. EF-40 (PCGS). 159.7 grains. 27.6 mm. A superb example of this most elusive Head Left variety, ranked fourth finest in the SHI Census behind three famous examples: Hall-Brand-Ford, Garrett-ODonnell, and Parmelee-Ford. The surfaces display lovely two tone deep brown and olive fields and tan devices on the obverse, an oddly common color scheme on this particular variety that may reflect a peculiar and distinctive planchet composition. The reverse is more even, with deep olive fields and slightly lighter design elements. The surfaces show shallow granularity, overwhelming common on this variety, but maintain excellent gloss and visual appeal. The obverse shows typical centering, aligned slightly to 6:00, with a complete date though the bases of the digits are softened at the rim. The reverse is ideally centered, with everything present but for the top of B of PLURIBUS, which is truncated by a small natural planchet clip. Two short nearly vertical scratches extend from the tip of the snout into the field below N of NOVA, but no other contact marks are noted. A hint of verdigris is seen in a few letters, but its impact is trivial even under magnified scrutiny. The usual long diagonal die crack that stretches from the rim below the plowbar to the second A of CAESAREA is present, making this Die State 2. This bisecting crack is undoubtedly what condemned this obverse die to a short life span, and this Maris number to rarity.<p><p>Maris 51-g is tough to find but there is a small group of very nice coins, including this one. The SHI Census compilers have chosen the extraordinarily sharp Mickley-Cleneay-Boyd-Frontenac-Sherff coin as their CC1. It last sold at auction in our 2011 Americana sale. Ford spun this off as his duplicate, preferring the smoothness of the Parmelee coin, but the Mickley-Sherff piece is perhaps the more original (if less smooth) of the two. The Parmelee-Ford 2003 primary coin is ranked third in the SHI Census, and its perhaps notable that the Siboni-Howes-Ish book chose the more even second ranked piece, ex Garrett and ODonnell, as their plate coin. This one is ranked next, and three additional EFs complete the listing, though two of them have not been verified. One certain new addition is the PCGS EF-45 sold in Heritages January 2017 sale. The Spiro-Oechsner-Partrick coin was graded VF-30 (NGC) when sold in May 2021, and the Maris-Garrett-Picker coin was offered as VF-35 (PCGS) in our March 2017 Dr. Gordon Shaw sale, bringing $11,750.<p><p>Though a coin this nice must have appeared at auction before, this example has no recent auction provenance known to us. PCGS# 767835. From the Sydney F. Martin Collection. Earlier ex Lawrence R. Stack Collection, November 2006.
