1766 Pitt Farthing Token. Betts-520, W-8345. Brass. VF-20 (PCGS). 47.6 grains. 25.0 mm. A famous and attractive specimen of this important issue. Both sides are an even and appealing chocolate-brown, so chocolatey that the Norweb cataloguer described this as "struck in copper, or an alloy resembling copper." Most are brass, of course, and either this piece has a slightly different mix or the usual alloy has just oxidized in a way that gives it this pleasing coppery appearance. The surfaces reveal that the alloy is pretty similar to most though, as the distinctive bubbling common to these pieces is visible here. The trivial pitting seen on the reverse also comes from the production methods used on these pieces, as the planchets were cast, rather than rolled and cut from sheet. This piece shows few flaws from its time in circulation, just a little chip at the rim above TO of RESTORER at 9:00 on the obverse and a couple of nearly invisible pinscratches beneath the ship. Some minor surface granularity is seen at the peripheries, but the overall appearance is quite nice for the grade.<p><p>Mrs. Norweb was an innovative collector, including in the way she collected Pitt material. Rather than just including a Pitt halfpenny, as most collectors would, she added the Pitt farthing (two, in fact). And those seemed to fit so well that she sought out other Pitt medals of the same era, including Betts-514 and Betts-521.<p><p>Fewer than 30 examples of this type have been identified. They share a special history to a narrow window of time between Americas forceful military endeavors in the French and Indian War and the push towards independence. Not many colonial types illustrate that legendary history so well or in such direct fashion as this.<p> PCGS# 232. From the Sydney F. Martin Collection. Earlier from our (Bowers and Merenas) sale of the Norweb Collection Part I, October 1987, lot 1241; Heritages sale of January 2002, lot 5063; Heritages sale of August 2007, lot 10.
