1787 New Jersey Copper. Maris 56-n, W-5310. Rarity-1. Camel Head--Overstruck on a 1788 Connecticut Copper, Miller 3-B.2 Struck Over a Nova Constellatio--AU-50 (PCGS). 106.7 grains. 29.4 mm. A really remarkable Maris 56-n. Not only is this piece high grade, with a distinctive and unusual undertype, but the host its struck over is itself an overstrike - giving this piece the rather unique distinction of having two different undertypes. The surfaces are glossy, smooth, and ideal, mostly light brown but with an arc of chocolate brown at the right obverse periphery. Both obverse and reverse of the New Jersey strike are aligned to the right, the obverse by a greater margin than the reverse. The date is complete, and the legends are almost complete where not interrupted by the undertype legends. The obverse appears to read NOVA INDESAREA. The Connecticut undertype reverse is very clear on the New Jersey, with the 1788 date and exergue line intact above NOVA and the seated figures outstretched arm and branch where the horses snout should be. Most importantly on the New Jersey obverse, the letters CO are visible among the denticles at the end of the plowbar. Normally "CO" under a 56-n would be from CONNEC, but not on the reverse of a Connecticut copper. Scrutiny shows that beneath the CO is an arc of denticles - the peripheral devices of the 1788 Connecticut Miller 3-B.2. And students of the Connecticut series will immediately recall two facts about that Connecticut variety: first, it is very often off-center by a margin of 10-15%, and second, it is almost always overstruck on Nova Constellatio coppers. On the reverse of the New Jersey, it is very evident how far off-center the Connecticut undertype is, as the locations and positions of the full AUCTORI CONNEC and the portrait are all easily seen. CON of CONNEC hangs at the rim, only partially on the planchet, above E * PL of the New Jersey legend. And, perhaps more importantly, IA is visible as a shadowy vestige outside the Connecticut border, above NU of UNUM: the remnant of JUSTITIA of the Nova Constellatio under-undertype.<p><p>A turducken, as popularized by the late, great John Madden, is a chicken stuffed inside of a duck stuffed inside of a turkey, making for a sublime if absurd meal. This piece, as absurd as its mess of design elements are, is a numismatic delicacy. Its surfaces are high grade, immaculate, and free of post-striking detraction. It tells a story about how even a lowly counterfeit Connecticut copper, a 1788-dated Miller 3-B.2, was easier to pass in circulation than an imported low-weight Nova Constellatio copper, but that New Jersey coppers were more highly regarded and easier to pass than either.<p><p>Double overstrikes like this one have been published in the body of literature before. In <em>Colonial Newsletter</em> 36, 1973, Dick Picker described a 1788 Connecticut 12.2-C struck over a 1788 Connecticut 4.2-R which was struck over a 1785 Nova Constellatio. Among New Jerseys, our 2019 E Pluribus Unum sale included the famous Maris 34-V over a Maris 35-J over a 1788 Vermont Ryder-16, and a similar piece was included in the 1992 Henry Garrett sale, a Maris 34-V over Maris 35-J over Connecticut. If theres another overstrike that represents three different types out there (i.e. a NJ over a CT over a Nova), we dont remember seeing it or hearing about it.<p><p>This coin is cited in Dr. Philip Mossmans vital <em>Money of the American Colonies and Confederation</em> in Appendix 2, p. 271, for its 1788 M. 3-B.2 undertype. Neither Mossman nor the 1987 Stacks cataloguer saw the Nova Constellatio undertype, but Nova Constellatio coppers are the typical planchet stock for that Connecticut variety. It wasnt so much a question of if there was a Nova under there, but where.<p> PCGS# 767837. From the Sydney F. Martin Collection. Earlier from our (Stacks) sale of the Estate of Corrado Romano, June 1987, lot 59; Lawrence R. Stack Collection, November 2006.
