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1112

1794 Counterfeit George III British Halfpenny, Group B Family. 122.8 grains.

Currency:USD Category:Coins & Paper Money Start Price:25.00 USD Estimated At:NA
1794 Counterfeit George III British Halfpenny, Group B Family. 122.8 grains.
SOLD
300.00USD+ buyer's premium (60.00)
This item SOLD at 2024 Jan 20 @ 20:11UTC-6 : CST/MDT
1794 Counterfeit George III British Halfpenny, Group B Family. 122.8 grains.Very Fine, the weakness at the centers of either side is more from strike than actual wear. A nice example of this ridiculously late date counterfeit – nearly two full decades after the last regal British halfpence was struck at the Tower Mint, and three years before Matthew Boulton began striking copper coins at his Soho Mint in Birmingham; this may well be the actual year these were struck, which is something of a rarity for the counterfeit halfpenny series! Full legends, the date strong and completely on the planchet. Medium brown, the surfaces hard enough, though with some light russet corrosion visible on either side. There is a long but thin striation that transverses the obverse, a shorter one below, and some small planchet flaws. This reverse was paired with two other obverses, one of them a George II mule. Listed in the Cobwright work as an evasion copper, and one of the pieces that supposedly ties the Group B counterfeits to the evasion series, this needs to be reevaluated since this is a standard BRITAN NIA legend, and all three obverses that this reverse pairs with are counterfeit halfpenny dies. It is far more likely that this is just an unusual style reverse with a non-regal date, which was intended to be a counterfeit die all along, especially as the reverse does not pair at all with any evasion obverse die. The Syd Martin coin was slightly nicer, called an EF, and sold for $168; the unusual date makes this and the other two varieties sharing this reverse popular.
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