SIERRA LEONE: British Colony, AE penny, 1791, KM-2.2, Vice-5, Sierra Leone Company issue, pattern 30mm variety with two blades of grass below the "S" of SIERRA, bronzed-copper, wonderful deep glossy color, NGC graded Proof 64 BN. This denomination bears the date 1791, the date of the re-establishment of Granville Town, Province of Freedom, which was founded in 1787 and destroyed in 1789. Vice says that these were struck on reduced diameter, lighter weight planchets ordered by Macaulay (of Macauley and Babington) in December 1813. The obverse is struck from the old Company 50-cent die. Macauley rejected this design in favor of the token having the anti-slavery theme (Vice 1/2, KM-Tn1) dated 1807, but struck in 1814. This variety seems to be rarer than the old Company proofs by about a 3:1 ratio. Vice also says that these were restruck in later years under the mistaken impression they represented the original Company penny.
Estimate: 300-400 USD