1787 CT 1/2P MB Right - 'INDE ET' Half Penny

Coin Details

Description

Combining a mailed bust facing right — a less common portrait orientation than the standard left-facing types — with the reverse legend error INDE ET (reversing the word order from the standard ET LIB INDE to INDE ET LIB), this 1787 Connecticut copper half penny is doubly distinctive. The right-facing mailed bust places the armored portrait in the opposite orientation from the more prevalent left-facing types, requiring a separately engraved die with the entire design composition reversed. Struck in copper at approximately 7 grams with a 28.5 mm diameter and plain edge, the obverse displays the AUCTORI CONNEC legend with the right-facing armored portrait, while the reverse features a seated Liberty with the transposed INDE ET LIB legend. Cataloged as Miller 1-A and related die marriages, with Whitman 2810 and PCGS #340, this variety is classified as moderately scarce. The INDE ET legend rearrangement is shared with certain Vermont coppers that also transpose these words, providing one of several connecting links between the Connecticut and Vermont copper production networks — an overlap that researchers attribute to shared die sinkers or minting facilities, most notably Machin's Mills near Newburgh, New York. The right-facing bust orientation on Connecticut coppers is sometimes associated with the earliest production dies of the series, drawing on British coinage conventions where the monarch's portrait traditionally faces right, before die sinkers shifted to the left-facing orientation that became standard for most Connecticut issues.

Rarity Notes

Moderately scarce. The INDE ET legend error is a distinctive variety.

Cross References

Miller 1-A and related; Whitman 2810