William Pitt Halfpenny 1766

Hi can anyone give a valuation on this coin I belive its a William Pitt Halfpenny 1766.
Thinking of selling on ebay not sure what Ishould expect to get for it.

Hopefully I have attached photos... Cheers Matt

 

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I found it in the Red Book, it has VG-$425, F-$700, VF-1,450, XF-2,750 & so on.
This was in the 2007 edition, take the prices with a grain of salt...

 

Nice. I'm curious - was this piece excavated? If so, what general location? (e.g., UK v. a US state).

 

i never seen one of those before. probably never be able to afford a nice one, but would be nice to have considering where i am from.

 

How do you grade this? Is it a G, VG, F or VF in detail? I have no clue about the standard associated with this coin or how significant the dings and corrosion affect it's net grade. Is it a net AG3 or solid VG? It makes a world of difference in the price. A net AG might be worth $150 while a net F is $1,000.

All this assumes it's authenticity which is a great leap of faith to begin with due to the numerous Colonial Fakes out there.

For these reasons, I probably wouldn't go over $100 if I were bidding.

 

These are very cool pieces made to show William Pitt's anger towards the Stamp Act. The Halfpennies are slightly uncommon, but are not rare by colonial coin standards. They come in all sorts of grade, from AG-UNC. Many have been found in the ground and as such tell us that some did circulate in colonial times. I would say this piece has F-VF detail where struck up with obvious surface corrosion. It is authentic for sure. It would net to about G4-VG8 money, so it would be worth somewhere around $200-250. Hope this helps...

 

Send it in to NGC or PCGS.

 

Again, I'm pretty close to nerarities on this one. The underlying detail looks like that of a VF. The surfaces knock it down to somewhere around VG. It looks real enough based on the photo. Wouldn't be surprised to see it bring $300+ on eBay.

The legend suggests that these were ordered by New York's (and other cities') Friends of Liberty and Trade, an organization similar to the Sons of Liberty, but less shall we say "demonstrative." For example, while the S of L favored continuation of the boycott of goods impacted by the Stamp Act, the F of L & T wanted to end it, because they were being hurt by it economically.

Whether the Pitt tokens were made in 1766 as the date suggests, or slightly later (perhaps 1770 as some believe) and whether they were made here as traditionally assumed or in England, which is more likely, the fact remains that they came very near near the start of the Revolution, on the heels of the 1765 Stamp Act Congress, the first unified continental protest against British policy and on the heels of James Otis' Rights of the Colonies Asserted and Proved. When John Adams wrote in 1818 that the revolution had been fought in the hearts and minds of the people for a decade before the actual war, it was these events that he was talking about. If you haven't read Pitt's argument for repeal of the Stamp Act, it's well worth the time to do so. It's brilliant (IMHO).

As you can no doubt tell, I'm a BIG fan of this issue. Be glad to post a picture of mine if anyone has an interest in seeing it.

 

Yeah, your most likely right, $300+ is probably more accurate ARguy! I will post an example I sold last month at Baltimore tomorrow (can't seem to find the picture right now). Love to see yours as well.

Great writeup on the Pitt! One of the types I have not studied in major detail (know the good parts though <bg>). They really are great coins with great history! Any idea why there are a decent number of silvered examples known? It seems slightly unusual to me to silver these pieces after the striking. How long after striking I have no clue.

 

Very nice example Matt :thumb:

 

Nerarities,

Thanks. Great questions about the silvering. I don't really know, but am willing to speculate (below). What are your thoughts?

I think that that the Pitt pieces were originally medalets rather than coins or tokens. If I remember right the average weight of the hp's is something like 86 grains. That's way to light to have credibility as a halfpenny (regal weight 152 grains) and too heavy for a farthing. So, I believe that the silvering was done to create a premium version, perhaps for the FLT's officers or dignitaries, or to sell to the public. I don't really think that it was done to fake a larger denomination. I've never seen a worn example with intact silvering. Have seen them with corrosion through the silver. These make me think that the silvering occured early.

Attached a pick of mine as another example. Obviously not silvered. Wish it were. It has an edge clip. When I bought this, the Stack's cataloger said that the mark on the '6' in the date and on the opposite side are from planchet cutter shears - but I'm not sure that they aren't just post-striking marks. I apologize for the low res pics. They were taken years ago.

Will attach a couple more "enhanced" coins in another post.

Best,
ARguy

 

As a followup, here is a 1791 Washington large eagle cent that is gilded (I always get confused over "gilded" and "gilted". At least it's not "gelded"). I've seen about half a dozen of these. I think that someone saw a chance to create a marketable souvenir, perhaps for Washington's second innauguration, his 100th birthday, etc. In all cases that I've seen, the wear seems to have followed the plating, suggesting again (but not proving) that the plating occured early.



The second example is a silvered 1773 VA halfpenny. I'd like to think that it's an 18th century version of a "racketeer nickel", made to look like a shilling becuase it bore no denomination and resembles a contemporary shilling. But I think it's more likely that someone much later tried to fake a VA shilling to fool collectors. Nevermind that a VA shilling is dated 1774. Still, this halfpenny was in pretty good shape when the silver was applied.

 

Hey ARguy,

Very nice Pitt Token. I am in the group that likes the clip as well. I was thinking more about the silvering and the concept that you can up with especially the weight argument. These pieces obviously circulated in some capacity, but maybe just more as a pocket piece than an actual spending coin. (Though any copper coin could be used to buy certain things as it was based on total weight of coins). I am attaching the picture of the example I sold at the last Baltimore show.

Regarding the silvering, I think that you are most likely right. What I think is safe to assume is that someone with a bunch of these (possibly the maker of them originally) silvered them at the same time, not many different people silvering their own example. The silvering I have seen on these (I have seen two or three with full silvering intact and high grade coins) looks very old and almost appears to have been there since the coins were struck. It is something someone should look into more (all silvering on colonial period coinage). It really is interesting. I know some Hibernia's/Rosa's have been found with a silvering wash, but many think that the silver wash was applied before the striking of the coin.

I love the Washington and the Virginia. I have seen some of the Washington pieces gilded before, and I have handled two that were fire gilt. I think people liked having something different as a carry around piece. (for something like the 100 year anniversary). I agree with you 100% that the gilding was done early and not recently. The look in hand on the gilt pieces is very old looking. I have seen some other colonial coppers with more recent silvering and gilding, and it looks very recent to my eyes, nothing like it does on the Washington piece you show.

The silvered Viriginia is very cool as well. I have never seen anything like that before. I agree with your thoughts as well on why/how that was made.

 

Nerarities,

Boy, now that's a beauty of a Pitt halfpenny! Completely original, well-centered, well-struck. Wish I had been the buyer!

I think we're on the same page with the silvering. It would be nice to find some early reference to it.

I was not aware of the Hibernias with a silver wash, though I know of some variations of early halfpennies that had it. They are contemporaries of the copper-plugged tin halfpennies, when some experimentation was obviously taking place.

With the exception of fire gilting, I've always assumed that early silvering/gilting was done by chemical deposition as opposed to an electrolytic process. Is that true?

Thanks,
ARguy

 

The Silverwashed Hibernia's all see to be slightly different pattern strikings and the die is unique to the silverwashed pieces. (Keep in mind I have seen only two different ones, both of which were in Gem UNC grade and only two known of each).

I was actually more leaning to the electrolytic process, but you may have a point with the chemical process. I think it makes more sense that it was chemically applied if the silvering was done in the period. I think if we are talking about late 1800s for the silvering, I would lean much more towards the electrolytic process.

 

I could be wrong but, I thought all the silver Hibernias were in a "roll" or hoard originally. I agree they were struck by different dies. I assumed they were struck in silver and not washed or gilted?

I will dig through my publications tonight to confirm.

Here is one of my favorites recently offered by CRO, Ex-Ford.


Ex Stack's January 2005 sale of the Ford Collection, Part VII, lot #68 @ $23,000.

 

Wow! Exceptional! Yours?

Just to clarify, I think we were discussing "silvered [copper]" Hibernias, as opposed to "silver" Hibernias.

 

I no longer own this piece.

Sorry, after reading through the posts again...I see silvered copper....I have never seen a silver washed hibernia...? any photos?

 

Congratulations on having owned it.

I haven't seen a silver washed one either and don't have a pic.

 

I know the owner and hopefully I can acquire a picture of the piece, but it will take some time. If I cannot get a picture any time soon, take a look at a recent Stacks auction where there was a unique Rosa Americana Twopence that was silver washed in UNC condition. (I think it was a 2pence but could have been a penny. Also, I am 98% sure it was from the Ford Collection.) That piece is exactly what the silver washed Hibernia looks like, and the point of bringing it up is that is does not look anything like the Pitt 1/2 pennies that are silvered. The color and surface is not anywhere near the same. Hopefully I can get pictures to show what I mean!

PS, the Rosa that was silver washed (I believe the "silver washed" was Mike Hodder's words but dont quote me on that) sold for $37,500 (give or take hammer) in that Stack's auction. I am out of town so I do not have any reference catalogs handy. Also, I believe there was a Rosa or Hibernia that was called silver washed in the Norweb sale Part II. I will check myself when I get home on Monday.

CBD, that is a beautiful coin. I am always impartial to silver colonial pieces, and that one was a beauty!! I remember last year in the first Philadelphia Americana Auction by Stacks viewing the silver tube that had two 1724 dated pieces as end covers!!!