1773 Virginia Halfpenny - Period

Coin Details

Auction Record

Description

The 1773 Virginia halfpenny with a period after GEORGIVS on the obverse is one of the two major obverse types of the copper halfpence the Crown authorized for Virginia in 1773. A royal warrant of May 20, 1773 allowed up to twenty-five tons of copper halfpence for Virginia to be struck at the Tower Mint, 60 to the pound, and Eric Newman described them as the only fully authorized coinage made for any of the colonies that became the United States. About five tons, some 672,000 halfpence, reached Virginia in February 1774, but the treasurer held them until a royal proclamation of November 16, 1774 allowed them to circulate. Newman sorted the obverses by whether a period follows GEORGIVS and the reverses by the number of harp strings. The legal weight was 116.7 grains, 60 to the pound, and Newman found most pieces between 115 and 120 grains. Cataloged as PCGS #240.