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

Coin Details

Auction Record

Description

This 1737 Higley threepence has the obverse legend VALVE ME AS YOU PLEASE, with a V for the U, and three crowned hammers 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's obverse 2, the only die spelled VALVE ME AS YOU PLEASE, is paired with both I AM GOOD COPPER reverses (2-B.a and 2-B.b, Crosby 20), and his 1994 census lists three examples. Cataloged as PCGS #210.

Rarity Notes

3 known (Freidus 1994)

Cross References

Freidus 2-B.a; Freidus 2-B.b; Crosby VIII-20