1786 Connecticut Copper. Miller 5.8-F, W-2620. Rarity-4. Mailed Bust Left. AU-58 (PCGS).

136.6 grains. A remarkably high grade and nicely struck example of this conditionally challenging variety. Miller 5.8-F is a rather available variety, even in technical high grade, but is notorious for being very poorly struck from worn dies, often on poor quality planchets as well. Witness the three Mint State examples from the Stepney Hoard, two of which we recently sold as part of the Robert Martin Collection. Those are perhaps technically some of the finest known but all are missing significant detail from weak strikes and are also plagued by planchet flaws. The present coin displays a much fuller than average strike, thanks in part to its early die state. The surfaces are a deep reddish-brown with glossy luster. Light flaws in places on the obverse, and the reverse surface was slightly granular pre-strike. Some of the detail falls off the planchet as is virtually always the case, but the motifs are complete and crisp, and the legends and date all readable if incomplete. An excellent representative, well pedigreed and of Condition Census quality. Worthy of inclusion in a high grade variety set.

PCGS# 686359.

From the Sydney F. Martin Collection. Earlier from Thomas Elder's May 1917 sale, lot 797; Hillyer Ryder; F.C.C. Boyd; our (Stack's) sale of the John J. Ford, Jr. Collection, Part IX, May 2005, lot 269; Anthony Terranova Collection, January 2012. Plated in Randy Clark's "The Identification and Classification of Connecticut Coppers 1785-1788," pp. 239, 261.