1670-A French Colonies 5 Sols. Paris Mint. Martin 9-K. Lecompte-186, W-11605, Breen-256. AU-53 (PCGS). A coin of superb aesthetic appeal. Frosty luster and bold originality accentuate beautifully variegated toning of pastel blue, bright gold, and sedate orange. The central reverse is a bit soft, revealing some planchet texture and evidence of adjustment, but all other details show exceptional sharpness for the assigned grade. Both sides are ideally centered and both dies are in their perfect state, though an area of spalling is seen in the lower right reverse field. The reverse was used as the plate coin for Reverse K in the Martin book. This was the only example of the Martin 9-K die marriage encountered by Syd by the time his book was published. This obverse die was also married with Reverse I, an example of which was included in Ford XIII as lot 20. PCGS# 905851. From the Sydney F. Martin Collection. Earlier from Heritages sale of August 2010, lot 3758.
