Sierra Leone 1791 10 cents
This specimen was lot 21527 in Stack's Bowers ANA sale (Philadelphia, August 2018), where it sold for $1,440. The catalog description[1] noted, "SIERRA LEONE. 10 Cents, 1791. PCGS PROOF-63+ Secure Holder. Vice-FT 5A. Sierra Leone Company issue struck at James Watt's Birmingham Mint. Used in the slave colony founded in Sierra Leone after the American Revolutionary War, where many of the freed Black Loyalists were shipped at the war's conclusion. From a mintage of only 109 pieces. Well struck showing full device details and deeply toned mirrored fields displaying a lovely medium gray with iridescent hues. A lovely example which clearly sat for a prolonged period of time undisturbed." A series of silver and bronze coins were issued for the projected colony of Sierra Leone in Africa whose capital, Freetown, was to house freed slaves and discharged black soldiers and sailors. The colony failed for the usual reasons and it seems unlikely that the coins issued ever circulated there as most of the survivors are in good condition. Proofs and off-metal strikes are known.
Recorded mintage: 4,200 + 109 proofs + copper proofs (KM 3a) + copper gilt proofs (KM 3b).
Specification: KM 3: 0.902 fine silver; KM 3a: copper.
Catalog reference: KM 3 (silver), KM 3a (copper), KM 3b (gilt copper).
- Michael, Thomas, Standard Catalog of World Coins, 1701-1800, 7th ed., Iola, WI: Krause Publications, 2016.
- [1]Ponterio, Richard, Kyle Ponterio and Chris Chatigny, The August 2018 Philadelphia ANA Auction: World Coins and Selections from the El Dorado Collection of Colombian Coins, Santa Ana, CA: Stack's Bowers LLC, 2018.
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