My First Colonial Coin Purchase

After writing my last post and doing some further reading about the state coinage of New Jersey, I began to actively seek examples online. I quickly found out that finding affordable specimens in decent grades is no easy task. But before I reveal the details of the coin I ultimately purchased after my lengthy search, there are a few things you should know about collecting New Jersey coppers and the people who collect them.

The copper coinage of New Jersey came into being in 1786 as a solution to the abundance of counterfeit British pence and halfpence passing as good currency. Three men, Walter Mould, Thomas Goadsby, and Albion Cox, successfully petitioned the General Assembly to produce a coinage for the state, the coins to consist of 150 grains pure copper each and of a final total value of 10,000 British pounds. The coins would pass at 15 to the shilling rather than the usual 12 to the shilling as a legitimate British pence would pass. The coins were produced from autumn of 1786 to sometime in 1788.

One of the draws to this series of coinage is that there are 141 die combinations so far identified. Collectors of early American copper coinage frequently collect by variety. Even if you collect the regular Federal issues of Half Cents and Large Cents, chances are you’re familiar with this philosophy of collecting. The many varieties of the 1794 Large Cent alone have been pursued as a set since the mid 1800′s.

This method of collecting a series has always interested me because I love detail. Small differences between individual dies are significant to me, even though I recognize that many people couldn’t possibly care less. That’s how I found the Early American Coppers Club (www.eacs.org), a national organization consisting of about 1200 members who are just as crazy as I am. Their bi-monthly publication, “Penny-Wise”, is famous for its well researched articles, technical as well as historical. For only $25.00 I just became member #5858!

Armed with my Whitman Encyclopedia of  Colonial and Early American Coins (see my earlier post for a review and a link), I hit the internet and located the above coin on a world coin dealer’s website for only $55.00. This contrasted a lot from the U.S. dealer sites where similar examples of the same variety were priced from 160 to 225 dollars.

The particular die variety of this coin is Maris 39a. Maris refers to Dr. Edward Maris who wrote the standard reference on New Jersey coppers back in 1881. The coin consists of obverse die “39″ and reverse die “a”. The key diagnostics for obverse die 39 are the low second 7 in the date and the leftmost ear of the horse to the right of the C in the legend. For the reverse die you basically have to compare the location of the points at the top of the shield with where they are in relation to the letters of the legend.  Thankfully, the Whitman Encyclopedia illustrates each individual obverse and reverse die with high quality photographs.

My wife thinks I’m insane but I can’t tell you how much enjoyment I get being the caretaker of this 220 year old piece of history. I also can’t stress enough the importance of shopping around and educating yourself before making a purchase. This particular die variety is estimated to only have 500 to 999 examples surviving. Try purchasing a regular issue U.S. coin with that low of a surviving population for only $55!