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'1775'' 1/2P Machin's Mills Half Penny

Strike Type
Colonials coin

Coin Details

Denomination
Colonials
Strike Type
Regular Strike
Series
Post-1776 Private and Regional Issues (1778-1820)
Composition
Copper
Weight
7.5g
Diameter
28mm
Edge
Plain

Description

Produced at Thomas Machin's private mint near Newburgh, New York, this halfpenny bears the date 1775 on the obverse — a deliberately backdated imitation of the British George III halfpenny rather than a genuine product of that year. Thomas Machin, an engineer for the Continental Army who had built fortifications in the Highlands and laid the chain across the Hudson at West Point, set up a works on Machin's Pond near Newburgh, New York, that Crosby says opened in 1787 with coining copper as its main purpose; its machinery was taken out in 1792, and its work was done in secret. The pieces on these pages imitate the British halfpenny of George III with dates from 1747 to 1788, and NGC files them as Machin's Mills and related pieces; Vlack's die numbers are the standard reference. PCGS lists it as #457.

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