Higley Bolen Copies

About This Coin

Reproductions of the scarce Higley copper tokens created by John Adams Bolen, a noted nineteenth-century engraver from Springfield, Massachusetts. Bolen produced careful copies of several rare colonial coins between the 1860s and 1870s, including the distinctive Higley coppers with their "VALUE ME AS YOU PLEASE" legend. Unlike outright forgeries, Bolen's copies were openly sold to collectors and are now prized as examples of Victorian-era numismatic craftsmanship. They exist in brass, silver, and copper, and are distinguished from originals by subtle differences in the dies.