1760 Farth Voce Populi - Small Letters

Coin Details

Auction Record

Description

This 1760 Voce Populi Farthing with Small Letters is distinguished from the Large Letters variety by its more delicately engraved legends, with smaller lettering used on both the obverse and reverse dies. The Voce Populi halfpence and farthings are unofficial Dublin coppers dated 1760, made during a shortage of small change and traditionally credited to the button maker John Roche, although others probably made them too. The obverse has a laureate bust with VOCE POPULI and the reverse Hibernia seated with a harp and the date. The halfpence are numbered by Nelson and by Zelinka's die study, and nobody has explained the P on some dies. Mossman notes that they are counted as American colonial pieces because of chance finds, not records of shipment. O'Brien lists two farthing types, one with large and one with small lettering. Cataloged as PCGS #259.