COLONIAL AMERICA. New Jersey. St. Patrick farthing in silver. 7.63 gm. 25 mm. 117.7 grains. (Also catalogued as Irish coinage in the Spink Standard Catalog of Scotland, Ireland et al). Circa 1670. King David kneeling left, playing a harp, a crown above; FLOREAT : REX / St. Peter standing, holding a metropolitan cross in his left hand and with his outstretched right hand driving out the reptiles, a church behind and to the right; QVIESCAT PLEBS (no punctuation); edge engrailed vertically. Breen 210. W. 11520. Spink SC 6570. D&F 344. Nelson obv. and rev. first dies. Substantial detail, Very Good to Fine; simply well worn, not notably damaged, and with a fair amount of detail remaining; extremely rare; the reverse has faint indication that the piece was struck over another coin issue. The Newman sale by Heritage, January 3, 2008, sold Newman's example for $3360. The dies on that piece are the same as on this piece. The Newman piece was lighter at 99.5 grains and the NGC slab noted "Mount Removed" and assigned a grade of "Fine Details." Breen notes weight fluctuations on this type ranging between 77.8 to 123 grains.

Red Book note: "Mark Newby...brought copper pieces believed...to have been struck in Dublin circa 1663 to 1672....The coinage was made legal by the General Assembly of New Jersey in May 1682."