grades and opnion on value? 1736 half penny and a ?? coin!

sammydabull

Hey everyone, i have a couple coins i could use a rough grade on. One ive had for years and never really inqured about it, and figure i might sell it off pending some input

1736 1
1736 2


And this one is in rough shape, but im curious if anyone has any info on it. And maybe a grade if ya feel like testing your low end grading grading skills It seems to be off center pretty good and quite beat up, buit maybe someone can id it and throw a rough grade up i would definatly appreciate it!


1787 1
1787 2

Thanks for any input!
Sam

farthing

I would grade the 1736 as Fair. Not sure of the value.

What is the approx. size of the second coin? Sure is a beat up Engish copper!

Conder101

The second piece isn't English, it is a US colonial. I'm not sure which state though, I can't see the legends well enough. It's probably Connecticut. (on further examination it is definitely Connecticut.) If it was English it would be a contemporary counterfeit half penny (there were no genuine english coppers struck from 1776 thru 1796.) And the left side inscription on the obverse would be Georgius. This one says Auctori, the right hand side says Conect. The inscription on the reverse is Indi Et Lib. The translation would be State of Connecticut Independence and Liberty. These were deliberately struck crudely and this one would probably grade Good to VG. Sorry I don't know which die variety it is.

coachleonard

I would grade them both VG with the 1736 darn near close to Fine. On ebay, this coin could bring you $1.25 on Monday, $25 on Tuesday--- at least that's my experience lately. The Connecticut copper I'd guess would bring $35-$50

sammydabull

wow, now that i look at the redbok and that conn. coin, i do see the identification. I thought it was an early british copper, but i guess i was wrong.


Just out of curiousity and i know this is a world forum, but why did they have such poor strikes on those??


And thanks for the grades and the value input, looks like theyre going to hit the market shortly, im trying to clean out my raw coins and focus more on slabbed coins.

Conder101

<< <i>Just out of curiousity and i know this is a world forum, but why did they have such poor strikes on those?? >>


The Connecticut coinage was not like the coinage of a government mint. This was a contract coinage being executed by a private company. the more coins they made the more money they made. This is one factor that would lead to the production of substandard coins. The coins were deliberately made a little rough because you wanted whoever was accepting the coins to have some confidence that he wasn't the only smuck taking them. By making hem with low relief and weakly struck they would take on a well worn appearance quickly and give people the confident feeling that lots of people before him had accepted the coin and most likely the coin would be accepted when he passed it on.

Something else to consider was that the Connecticut copper were NOT legal tender but were accepted simply because the severe shortages of coinage meant that most anything of the right size and shape was accepted in commerce, even buttons. So since poor struck coins would most likely still be accepted why knock yourself out being very careful striking the coins?

Finally, the official contract coiners were not the only people striking Connecticut coppers. Counterfeit CT coppers were made by several other mints and these folks REALLY didn't care about the strike quality because they didn't have to answer to th authorities about the quality of their production.

sammydabull

wow, thanks condor! thats some good informative stuff you got there, quite interesting!


Thanks again, i definatly appreciate it!!


Sam