1737 Higley Copper Threepence - Three Hammers, CONNECTICVT

Coin Details

Auction Record

Description

Made from copper mined at the Higley family's mine near Granby, Connecticut, this 1737 threepence has three crowned hammers and CONNECTICVT on the reverse. Samuel Higley mined copper near Granby, Connecticut, and with his brother John made the dies and struck these coppers from 1737; Samuel was lost at sea in 1737 and John carried on. Every obverse shows a deer: the first legend, THE VALVE OF THREE PENCE, gave way to VALVE ME AS YOU PLEASE and VALUE ME AS YOU PLEASE, and one die shows a wheel with THE WHEELE GOES ROUND. The reverses show three crowned hammers with CONNECTICVT or I AM GOOD COPPER, or a broad axe with J CUT MY WAY THROUGH. Daniel Freidus recorded 8 obverse and 5 reverse dies in 15 marriages. Freidus pairs this reverse (his A) with the three THE VALVE OF THREE PENCE obverses, 1.1-A, 1.2-A and 1.3-A (Crosby 17 and 18), and counted 13 examples in 1994. A Bolen copy of the mid-1800s imitates obverse 1.2 and this reverse. Cataloged as PCGS #201.

Rarity Notes

13 known (Freidus 1994)

Cross References

Freidus 1.1-A; Freidus 1.2-A; Freidus 1.3-A; Crosby VIII-17; Crosby VIII-18