American Plantations Token 1688 Original Newman 2-B Arrived from the UK! New Plhotos!

ambro51

From Andrew Howitt in the UK previously ex. Bruce Keese this 1688 American Plantations Token joins the collection. This is Newman 2-B and was struck at the Tower Mint in London from 97.5 pure Tin. Though the UK used Tin in coinage during this era...it was a very poor choice. Having the property of crumbling under low temperatures, despite care time and climate take their toll on these issues. Here we see a coin which though retaining full details from the strike, highly reflective luster... It has a case of Tin Pest. It's the nature of the beast. The intricate beauty of the engraving, mint bloom and golden tone in the fields have withstood incredible time, . I like it. .

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SaorAlba

A coin that is quite practically impossible to find even that nice. Coingratulations!

MidLifeCrisis

How much did you pay for it?

TPRC

Very nice Ambro!

ambro51

£470 .

STONE

Awesome

MidLifeCrisis

<< <i>£470 . >>


Thanks. According to Google that's about $757.17 US.

ambro51

I am awestruck by the exceptional details such as the horses head, and realizing this has been in coin collections for 1/3 of a millenium. The beaded edge is complete though irregular as these customarily are. This 2-B seems to the most "common" of the 1688 strikes with maybe up to 50 extant. The highest graded is MS63, and many are in this MS60 with tin pest grade . It is a coin that never needed to be, and when it was, no one had a need for it. Strange bird indeed!

STONE

Could it be that it was a Pattern?

Different metal
Limited mintage (my assumption), and
Many are found still in high grade (ergo your comment 'no one had a need for it')

ambro51

Probably not. The coinage period was only twp months....then James II was "deposed". All in all, eight sets of dies were made, the emission must have been large, but today maybe 200 or so survive, only a percentage of those are 1688 strikes