1737 Higley Copper Threepence - Three Hammers, VALUE ME AS YOU PLEASE

Coin Details

Auction Record

Description

Distinct from the VALVE ME AS YOU PLEASE spelling variant (which uses the Latin V for U), this die combination renders the legend with the conventional English spelling VALUE ME AS YOU PLEASE alongside the Three Hammers 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's obverses 3.1 to 3.3 read VALUE ME AS YOU PLEASE; with the I AM GOOD COPPER reverse they form 3.1-B.a, 3.2-B.a and 3.3-B.a (Crosby 21 and 22), 15 examples in his 1994 census. Cataloged as PCGS #207.

Rarity Notes

15 known (Freidus 1994)

Cross References

Freidus 3.1-B.a; Freidus 3.2-B.a; Freidus 3.3-B.a; Crosby VIII-21; Crosby VIII-22