 1723 Rosa Americana off metal Halfpenny. Crowned rose. GRATIA:/1723:. Br.139, Taxay C74. Near Very Fine. Struck in silver. 70.5 gns. Plain edge. Light silver gray in the fields, darker gray around the peripheries. Light scratches both sides, graffito in the left reverse field (letter I). Unique with this punctuation and so described by both Breen and Taxay. None in either the Garrett or Norweb sales and the only one the cataloguer has recorded. Other, equally famous and important Rosas are known with graffiti on their surfaces. This silver halfpenny could not have been struck for circulation so it must have been made for some unknown but doubtless special purpose.
Said ex Philip Nelson Collection on December 11, 1913; F.C.C. Boyd Estate.
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