1778 Copper So-Called Dollar HK-863b, Perseverando

Coin Details

Description

HK-863b is a copper Confederation Dollar, one of a series reproducing the iconography of Continental Congress currency in medallic form at a standard 39mm diameter. As later strikes produced from copy dies rather than original 18th-century implements, the Confederation Dollars made historically significant Revolutionary-era designs accessible to collectors. These pieces document the critical period between American independence and the ratification of the Constitution, when the young republic experimented with coinage designs, monetary systems, and the visual vocabulary of national identity that would eventually be codified in the Coinage Act of 1792. Struck in a remarkable range of materials including copper, brass, German-silver, white metal, silver, aluminum, lead, and fiber at a standard 39mm diameter, the Confederation Dollars represent the full spectrum of medallic metallurgy. The silver variants are the scarcest — HK-860a was limited to just 35 pieces — while copper and white metal examples are the most commonly encountered. The Perseverando varieties include date variants (May 10th, Nov. 29th, April 11th) corresponding to specific Continental Congress currency emissions, and only 50 copper HK-864 examples were struck. The Hibler-Kappen catalog, first published in 1963 by Harold E. Hibler and Charles V. Kappen as 'So-Called Dollars: An Illustrated Standard Catalog,' provides the systematic numbering system (HK numbers) used to identify and classify hundreds of American medals approximately the size of a silver dollar. The catalog has been revised and expanded in subsequent editions, with Jeff Shevlin's contributions significantly expanding the known census.

Rarity Notes

Confederation Dollar variants in the HK-858 through HK-866 range survive in moderate numbers. Various compositions exist across the series. These pieces attract interest from collectors of both so-called dollars and early American coinage reproductions.

Cross References

HK-863b; PCGS #643625