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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;Publius2, post: 7853284, member: 105571&quot;]There was a recent thread that questioned the inclusion of William Woods&#039; Hibernia coinage under the heading of &quot;US coinage&quot;.&nbsp; Here is a coin produced in England by William Woods under royal patent (George I) for the express purpose of circulation in the American Colonies:&nbsp; It is the 1723 Rosa Americana Penny.&nbsp; Woods struck farthings, halfpennys, pennys, twopence and shillings in this style and they most certainly did circulate in the American colonies.</p><p><br /></p><p>Interestingly, this coin is not pure copper.&nbsp; Rather it was supposed to be an alloy called Bath Metal, a mixture of 75% brass, 24.73% zinc, and 0.27% silver.&nbsp; Metallurgical analysis has shown no silver so Woods cheated - imagine that?&nbsp; There is some evidence to suggest that these coins, due to their hardness, were struck after the planchets were heated and were struck using a drop hammer machine.</p><p><br /></p><p>This one was picked up in a Heritage auction a couple of days ago.&nbsp; The photos are Heritage&#039;s.&nbsp; I possibly overpaid for this but in my defense, this die marriage is the considerably scarcer Martin 2-F with a rarity rating of URS-4.&nbsp; The other 1723 penny is the Martin 2-E, rarity URS-11.&nbsp; How can you tell the difference?&nbsp; The 2-F has a dot after the date whereas the 2-E does not.&nbsp; What does the Universal Rarity Scale say about these ratings?&nbsp; An 11 means 500 to 999 examples surviving.&nbsp; A 4 means 5 to 8 surviving examples.&nbsp; So, I&#039;m very happy with the pick-up.</p><p><br /></p><p>All information on the coinage presented here was taken from Bowers&#039; &quot;Whitman Encyclopedia of Colonial and Early American Coins&quot;.</p><p><br /></p><p>[ATTACH=full]1352711[/ATTACH] [ATTACH=full]1352712[/ATTACH][/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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