1785 Immune Columbia George III Copper Pattern

Coin Details

Description

One of the most historically paradoxical coins in American numismatics, this 1785 Immune Columbia copper pattern incorporates a George III obverse die paired with the IMMUNIS COLUMBIA ("America is free") reverse — placing the image of the British monarch whose authority America had just overthrown on the same coin as a declaration of American independence from that very authority. Cataloged as Crosby and Whitman 5645, this extraordinary muling raises profound questions about the die-making practices and political sensibilities of the Confederation period. The George III obverse die was likely borrowed from a facility producing counterfeit British halfpence, as the same workshops that created proposed American national coins frequently supplemented their income with unauthorized copies of British copper coinage — a widespread and tacitly tolerated practice in the 1780s. The reverse features the seated Liberty design with the Immune Columbia legend, connecting it to the broader family of proposed national coppers that included the Confederatio and Nova Constellatio series. The juxtaposition of British royal authority and American sovereignty on a single coin may have been nothing more than an expedient use of available dies, but the resulting object is nonetheless one of the most thought-provoking artifacts of the early American monetary experience. Extremely rare, the George III / Immune Columbia muling is a historically extraordinary piece that appeals equally to colonial copper specialists, political historians, and collectors fascinated by the tangled relationship between legitimate and counterfeit coinage production in post-Revolutionary America.

Rarity Notes

Extremely rare. A historically extraordinary muling of British and American designs.

Cross References

Crosby; Whitman 5645