 1786 Connecticut copper. Mailed Bust Left. M.4.1-C. R-8. Fine to Very Fine. The finer of the two known, the other being the Taylor coin graded at the time About Good. 142.7 gns. Unnatural red and brown, probably old jeweler's rouge. Well centered on both sides, the obverse with the legend fully legible the reverse with IB indistinct and partially off flan, only tops of date numerals show. Rims a bit ragged and nearly as made, a few smaller marks accidental to the coin. Small rim flaw on reverse at about 10:00. Some very faint, shallow and old scratches on each side. Described by Crosby as 5-C, listed by Hall as 4.1-C, the reverse mentioned by Miller but the 4.1-C combination left out of the 1920 catalogue because he had not seen a specimen. The variety was rediscovered by Walter Breen and published in 1951, described by Barnsley in CNL in March 1964, and by Rock in CNL in May 1991.
The curious fact is that the piece Barnsley mentioned in 1964 was a different one than the example Breen had earlier found in 1951 (although Barnsley did not know that). Breen's turns out to be the present coin and he probably found it in the Boyd Collection. The rubbing he made of the coin has a reverse with considerable detail showing. The one Barnsley found was probably owned by Picker at the time (it was later sold to Taylor). Barnsley recorded its weight as 151.6 gns, which compares favorably to the Taylor catalog's weight of 151.1 gns. The reverse of the Taylor coin was soft and could not have been the origin of the 1951 Breen rubbing; that coin could only have been the Boyd-Ford piece, which has a strong back, as noted.
The above is offered solely to establish the existence of two different specimens of M.4.1-C and exclude the possiblity that either Breen's or Barnsley's could be a third. This one is attributed on its collector's ticket as 4.1-F.2, suggesting an attempt at attributing the reverse by someone who did not think it was Crosby's C.
Ex Henry Chapman in July, 1925. Square collector's ticket accompanies the lot.
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