Bar Copper

Rare Choice Mint State Bar Copper

The Harlan P. Smith Specimen

Undated (ca. 1785) Bar Copper. W-8520. Rarity-4. MS-64 BN (PCGS).

Here is a fascinating example of this classic early federal era type, with superior quality, outstanding eye appeal, and a famous provenance. It was offered as lot 46 in S.H. and H. Chapman's May 1906 sale of the Harlan P. Smith Collection, where it was cataloged as: "Uncirculated. Partly bright red. Rare." While we suspect that this coin may have mellowed a bit in the 100+ years since its appearance in that sale, plenty of vivid pinkish-orange mint color remains on the reverse within the protected areas between the bars. The obverse is near-fully toned in golden-brown, although the left border on that side exhibits faded pinkish-orange where mint color was last to fade. The strike is a bit tight to 3 o'clock, the denticulation scant along the right borders. Otherwise we can find no fault with the strike, for all major design elements (though few in number) are boldly rendered. Satiny in texture with nice gloss, the surfaces are exceptionally well preserved for the type with only a few faint carbon flecks precluding an even higher numeric grade. One of the most eagerly sought numismatic items from the colonial and early federal era of United States history, the Bar copper is also one of the most enigmatic. We are not sure by whom or under what circumstances these pieces were produced. We are reasonably sure, however, that this type was struck circa 1785, as evidenced by an entry in the November 12, 1785, issue of the New Jersey Gazette that states: "A new and curious kind of coppers have lately made their appearance in New York. The novelty and bright gloss of which keeps them in circulation. These coppers are in fact similar to Continental buttons without eyes; on the one side are thirteen stripes and on the other U.S.A., as was usual on the solders' buttons." Other facts concerning these coins are circumstantial. Russell Rulau (as related by Q. David Bowers, Whitman Encyclopedia of Colonial and Early American Coins, 2020) believes that the Bar coppers were struck in Birmingham, England by Thomas Wyon. Regardless of where they were made, the Bar copper is perhaps the early American coin best equipped to illustrate two great narratives of the Revolutionary-era: the military struggle for independence and the economic struggle against crummy coppers. Both the obverse and reverse designs of the Bar coppers were borrowed directly from buttons worn by Continental Army soldiers. The obverse design was commonplace throughout the war on the coats and vests of soldiers from New England to the Carolinas, making this design instantly familiar to most who encountered it. The lifespan of those buttons was longer than the circulation life of a Bar copper, however. The Bar coppers did meet with initial success in the young United States, where a dearth of circulating specie meant that they were eagerly accepted in commerce. At the time of their introduction, however, these coins were among the most underweight of the post-Revolutionary coppers, sometimes weighing as little as half of a Fugio copper. When the Copper Panic of 1789 hit New York, the Hudson Valley, Philadelphia, New Haven, and Boston, these were among the first coppers to be tossed from circulation, which is why AU Bar coppers are far more common than VGs. Choice Mint State remains a rare grade, as few got saved as souvenirs. This is one of the nicest ones to come on the market in recent years, and it will be just right for an advanced collection.

PCGS# 599.

PCGS Population: 4; 3 finer (all MS-66 BN).

From S.H. and H. Chapman's sale of the Harlan P. Smith Collection, May 1906, lot 46.

Estimate: 50000