Nova Eborac Copper Coins

About This Coin

The Nova Eborac copper coins take their name from the Latin designation for New York — Nova Eboracum, derived from Eboracum, the Roman name for York in England. Struck in copper, weighing 7 grams with a 28 mm diameter and plain edge, these post-1776 private issues feature designs that combine classical imagery with the New York identity. The obverse typically depicts a seated figure or standing Liberty, while the reverse carries the NOVA EBORAC inscription along with date and decorative elements. Produced during the late 1780s when New York, unlike Connecticut, Vermont, and Massachusetts, did not authorize an official state copper coinage, these pieces occupied an ambiguous legal space as neither fully authorized state coins nor clearly illegal counterfeits. The unknown designer created pieces that circulated alongside the diverse mixture of foreign coins, authorized state coppers, and privately issued tokens that constituted the circulating medium in Confederation-era New York. Nova Eborac coppers are classified within the broader category of post-1776 private and regional issues, distinct from the Excelsior coppers and other New York pieces that bore different design programs. Collectors value these coins for their New York historical association and their connection to the complex monetary landscape of the 1780s, when the absence of a federal mint and the inadequacy of the Articles of Confederation's monetary provisions left private operators to fill the gap with copper coins of varying quality and authority.