It's not every day someone walks into a coin shop with a raw, R-8 Colonial Copper. This coin has an interesting history. Copper Rarity Shows Up in N.H. Coin Shop I looked through some old Red Books and found the following regarding the 1787 NY Indian w/ George III Reverse. The 1960 Red Book (and earlier editions) lists the coin as unique. The 1963 Red Book notes 2 known examples. (I couldn't place my hands on a 1961 or 1962 Red Book to see which edition first listed 2 known examples.) The Red Book lists 2 known examples through the 1978 edition. The 1979 Red Book notes 3 known examples. The 2008 Red Book (my most recent edition) still lists 3 known examples. So apparently no new examples have surfaced in over 30 years. The coin in the article - if the information in the article is reasonably correct - is apparently the second known example. The article said the current owner had the piece authenticated in 1970 or later. But, a second example was known when the 1963 Red Book was printed (in 1962) so something is incorrect with that timeline.
Great story Hobo, thanks for posting it. At one time I had a nice collection of Colonials, but nothing as rare as this one. Unfortunately, I had to sell them several years ago but I still miss them. Bruce
You can click on the link to the article and read it yourself. The last line of the article states: The 2008 Red Book lists a value of $50,000 in VG.
I would suspect, that there are many more out there to be found. After all they just did not vanish into thin air. Perhaps 5% of the total mintage is out there to be properly ID'ed. One could only hope.
