So, I won this 1771 Machins Mills Halfpenney...

jmski52

I won this Machins Mills Halfpenney yesterday at the Scotsman Auction in St. Charles. It's my first Colonial piece, and there's a reason I pursued it. My fiancee' grew up on Orange Lake fairly close to where the Mill used to be. She used to skate across the lake with soup for an older neighbor in the winter.

It looks to be a fairly representative piece. They were minted in order to counterfeit the British coinage and they were made as if they had already seen circulation.

bronzemat

Very cool piece. I like it!

DorkGirl

ambro51

A Very Nice copper with a lot of eye appeal. Machins Mill fascinates me and quite a bit of info can be found. They were very prolific on creating dies and struck Vermont coppers under contract...which were probably their only "legal" product. Though your coin is dated 1771 it was struck in the late 1780s. QDB has a good chapter covering MM in "more adventures with rare coins". Look for the triangular dentils on old coppers... That's a Machins Mill piece. Congratz on the first step into Colonials PS this variety is Vlack 2-71A listed as URS-8 (65 to 124 known)

MidLifeCrisis

All colonials are cool...your Machins is no exception!

NewEnglandRarities

Very nice pickup! Many Machins Mills varieties are very difficult to find with nice color and surfaces, and the one you found is certainly one of them. As a variety it is scarce, but with surfaces like yours it is a true rarity. You did very good for your first colonial coin purchase. Excellent job and congrats on the new (old) copper!