Sierra Leone 1796 cent
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This specimen was lot 58404 in Stack's Bowers NYINC sale (New York, January 2024), where it sold for $144. The catalog description[1] noted, "SIERRA LEONE. Cent, 1796. Birmingham (Soho) Mint. PCGS EF-45." 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. This type was also struck in 1791.
Recorded mintage: 50,000.
Specification: bronze.
Catalog reference: KM-1.
- Michael, Thomas, Standard Catalog of World Coins, 1701-1800, 7th ed., Iola, WI: Krause Publications, 2016.
- [1]Orsini, Matt, Kyle Ponterio and Jeremy Bostwick, January 2024 NYINC Auction, featuring the Emilio M Ortiz Collection and a Symphony of Russian Rarities, the Rothschild-Piatigorsky Collection, Costa Mesa, CA: Stack's Bowers Galleries, Inc., 2023.
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