Great Britain 1771 half penny
This specimen was lot 70692 in Stack's Bowers Collector's Choice sale (Santa Ana, CA, May 2018), where it sold for $240. The catalog description[1] noted, "GREAT BRITAIN. 1/2 Penny, 1771. NGC MS-62 BN. Beautiful dark chocolate glossy patina. Bold strike and quite attractive." This type is listed for 1770-75 and is scarce even in worn condition. The mint did not produce near enough small change for the industrial boom of the eighteenth century, leading to a proliferation of private tokens. The situation would not be rectified until the reform of 1817.
Recorded mintage: unknown.
Specification: copper.
Catalog reference: S-3774; KM-601.
- Lobel, Richard, Mark Davidson, Allan Hailstone and Eleni Calligas, Coincraft's Standard Catalogue of English and UK Coins, 1066 to Date, London: Coincraft, 1995.
- Skingley, Philip, ed., Standard Catalogue of British Coins: Coins of England & the United Kingdom, 46th edition, London: Spink & Son, 2011.
- Michael, Thomas, Standard Catalog of World Coins, 1701-1800, 7th ed., Iola, WI: Krause Publications, 2016.
- Freeman, Michael J., The Bronze Coinage of Great Britain, Rev. Ed., London: Spink & Son, 2006.
- Peck, C. Wilson, English Copper, Tin and Bronze Coins in the British Museum, 1558-1958, 2nd Ed., London: Oxford University Press, 1970.
- [1]Ponterio, Richard, Kyle Ponterio and Chris Chatigny, The May 2018 Collector's Choice Sale, Santa Ana, CA: Stack's Bowers LLC, 2018.
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