colonial/british coin question

coachleonard

I'll ask this on the liteside and darkside forum:

Has anybody heard of a practice in the American Colonies where British farthings and halfpennies were
re-stamped (NOT incused) with a "1776" date, I guess as some kind of show of loyalty to independence??

It seems like I faintly heard about this once-- then again, I maybe I just thought I did.

Reason I ask is, was cleaning off some worn out dug coppers (pretty much all British) supposedly dug at a Virginia site. I did some olive oil cleaning on one super worn/dirty old farthing, mainly so i could tell if if it was a George II or Charles II farthing. To my surprise, a very faint but
discnernable (and kinda big) ".776" shows up about a third up the face of the coin in big numberals. The first and third numerals aren't clear
but it does kinda look like at least a ".776". Then again, maybe its all a trick of the eyes.
Tried to scan it, the "numerals" don't pick up.

Pistareen

I haven't heard of what you're referencing, and if such a reference does exist I don't think it's correct.

What might be relevant is that the "5" character on LOTS of these counterfeits looks a lot like a 6. There are some that really are dated 1776, but I'd say 75% or more of the "1776" halfpence I see are really 1775s with funny 5s.

Check out the Ringo sale (Stack's, January 2008) for some well-illustrated examples. They're still online at the Stack's website.

coachleonard

as far as whether it was a counterfeit with a questionable 1775 or 1776 date, I should clarify that this date was in no way the date that goes under that excegue (sp??) line beneath the Britannia figure-- it's way too big, too high and seems to go across somewhat diagonal.

Pistareen

Without seeing the coin I can't tell you too much, but I will say that the die work on many (or most) of the counterfeits shows problems with spacing, punch sizes, etc. They often look significantly different from the Tower Mint coins.

A photo would help.