1785 Connecticut Copper. Miller 4.2-F.6, W-2360. Rarity-8-. Bust Right, African Head. VF-20 (PCGS). 112.6 grains. One of the major highlights of the present offering of Connecticut coppers from the Syd Martin collection. There are several other die varieties in the series that can match the rarity, but next to none that can match the stature and significance of the extremely rare 4.2-F.6 African Head. After the 1787 1.4-WW Seated Figure Facing Right, which exists in a stratosphere all its own as a Rarity-8 <em>Guide Book</em> variety and major type, the 4.2-F.6 African Head is as prestigious as it gets among rare Connecticut varieties, in a class with the 5.3-B.2 and 5.3-G Hercules Heads and the 1.2-mm Muttonhead, but even rarer than those R-7 varieties.<p>This African Head variant was known to Hall, who owned the discovery coin, and published by Miller in 1920 as unique (then called 4.2-F.4). In the intervening century just two more examples have come to light for a total of three. The present coin is the most recent discovery, cherry-picked in early 2005 by Neil Rothschild who found it listed for sale online in a PCGS VF-20 holder as a normal African Head. It is a pleasant Very Fine coin with slightly granular surfaces but nice brown and tan color with no disfiguring marks or flaws. The obverse is fully detailed while the reverse is slightly off center such that the date and part of INDE is indistinct. All three examples are in the Very Fine grade range; this is the weakest of the three in terms of sharpness but it has the advantage of lacking the damage of the NGC VF Details Hall-Newman coin and the verdigris of the NGC VF-30 Keller coin. <p>In the October 2010 sale of the W. Philip Keller Collection, this variety became the first Connecticut copper to break the $100,000 barrier at auction when the aforementioned NGC VF-30 specimen realized $115,000. Four years later the Hall discovery coin was sold as part of the Eric Newman collection for $70,500. With the present example now appearing at auction for the first time, all three examples of the variety have now come up for public sale in just the last 12 years. This is remarkable given the fact it took some 120+ years for the first one to come to auction. Collectors should be aware that it could well be another very long span of time before any of the trio are available again. A truly exciting offering of one of the most celebrated Connecticut copper rarities. PCGS# 905503. From the Sydney F. Martin Collection. Earlier ex Neil Rothschild, August 2008. Plated in Randy Clarks "The Identification and Classification of Connecticut Coppers 1785-1788," pp. 165 and 202.
