1787 1/2P Nova Eborac - Seated Left Half Penny

Coin Details

Description

Distinguished by its reverse figure facing left, this 1787 Nova Eborac copper half penny is cataloged as Whitman 5820 and Breen 990. The seated figure on the reverse — interpreted as Liberty or Justice — faces left (toward the viewer's right), in contrast to the seated right variety (Breen 991), providing a clear diagnostic distinction between two different reverse dies used in the Nova Eborac series. The obverse bears the standard NOVA EBORAC legend with a laureate bust, using the Latin name for New York derived from the Roman city of Eboracum (modern York, England). These privately produced coppers circulated in New York during the late 1780s, filling the monetary gap left by the absence of an authorized state copper coinage. Struck in copper, the coin weighs approximately 7 grams with a 28 mm diameter and plain edge. Cataloged as PCGS #478. Classified as scarce, the seated left variety is less commonly encountered than some other Nova Eborac types, making it a desirable target for colonial copper specialists. The seated figure's orientation — left versus right — has been a collecting distinction since the earliest studies of colonial American coppers, as the direction the figure faces reflects a specific die sinker's design choice that permanently differentiated one reverse die from another. Breen 990 places this variety within the broader framework of Walter Breen's encyclopedic classification, which integrates all early American copper types into a unified numbering sequence.

Rarity Notes

Scarce.

Cross References

Whitman 5820; Breen 990