Heritage World Coin Auctions
NYINC Signature Sale 3037 Sess. 1 4 January 2015
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Great Britain
George III copper Pattern 1/2 Penny 1796 MS65 Brown NGC, P-924 (ER). Plain edge struck without collar. By Lewis Pingo. A beautiful coin with glossy, mahogany-brown surfaces. In its day, this charming piece was deemed to be "of remarkably inferior workmanship," even though it was every bit the equal of earlier halfpennies struck at the Royal Mint. However, in 1796 competition arrived with the Droz-engraved patterns struck on Boulton and Watt's new steam-driven machinery, which allowed for more deeply-engraved dies to be pounded with much increased force into copper blanks. Any visual comparison of the two types must have been dramatic to 18th-century eyes completely unused to the newest minting technology of the Industrial Revolution. The result was rejection of this and a couple of related patterns (dated 1788). The date 1796 on any regal copper takes any experienced numismatist aback, because the 1790s generally was the time of the numerous merchant tokens known generally today as Conder tokens, which flooded onto the commercial scene and fascinated the numismatic community of the day. Coppers of the earlier styles and means of manufacture were disdained at the time. They had been widely counterfeited, which was the reason for the contract by the Royal Mint with the mint at Birmingham to replace them. C. Wilson Peck comments dryly that no facts exist concerning the origin or the artist who engraved this pattern of 1796, but concludes that the workmanship is so similar to that seen on Pingo's 1787 shillings, sixpence coins, and his Bank of England tokens, that this piece must be his work. Interestingly, Peck also mentions that this halfpenny "has the distinction of being the first copper piece bearing DEI GRATIA to be produced at the Mint since Anne's reign." It is both extremely rare and splendid in its state of preservation.
Estimate: 4000-5000 USD
George III copper Pattern 1/2 Penny 1796 MS65 Brown NGC, P-924 (ER). Plain edge struck without collar. By Lewis Pingo. A beautiful coin with glossy, mahogany-brown surfaces. In its day, this charming piece was deemed to be "of remarkably inferior workmanship," even though it was every bit the equal of earlier halfpennies struck at the Royal Mint. However, in 1796 competition arrived with the Droz-engraved patterns struck on Boulton and Watt's new steam-driven machinery, which allowed for more deeply-engraved dies to be pounded with much increased force into copper blanks. Any visual comparison of the two types must have been dramatic to 18th-century eyes completely unused to the newest minting technology of the Industrial Revolution. The result was rejection of this and a couple of related patterns (dated 1788). The date 1796 on any regal copper takes any experienced numismatist aback, because the 1790s generally was the time of the numerous merchant tokens known generally today as Conder tokens, which flooded onto the commercial scene and fascinated the numismatic community of the day. Coppers of the earlier styles and means of manufacture were disdained at the time. They had been widely counterfeited, which was the reason for the contract by the Royal Mint with the mint at Birmingham to replace them. C. Wilson Peck comments dryly that no facts exist concerning the origin or the artist who engraved this pattern of 1796, but concludes that the workmanship is so similar to that seen on Pingo's 1787 shillings, sixpence coins, and his Bank of England tokens, that this piece must be his work. Interestingly, Peck also mentions that this halfpenny "has the distinction of being the first copper piece bearing DEI GRATIA to be produced at the Mint since Anne's reign." It is both extremely rare and splendid in its state of preservation.
Estimate: 4000-5000 USD