'1772' 1/2P Machin's, Vlack 7-72B, BN MS(PCGS#826946)

Spring 2026 Showcase Auction U.S. Coins

Auctioneer

Stack's Bowers

Lot Number

1419

Grade

XF45BN

Price

10,800

Lot Description

112.1 grains. The apparent finest known survivor of this variety, plated in both editions of the Howes, Rosen, and Trudgen book on the Machin's Mills series. A simply beautiful piece, with ideal light brown color over both sides. The surfaces are smooth and glossy throughout, and the visual impact is superb. Well struck and well centered with full details on obverse and reverse. A few scattered tiny pits are seen around the central obverse, single thin hairline in left obverse field from R to the back of the head, a bit of old harmless encrustation seen around legends. Two tiny curved mint clips near 9 o'clock on the obverse were nearly obliterated at striking, leaving this coin looking quite round and intact. Choice on both sides, an unparalleled survivor from these dies.<p>Dick August's acquisition of this piece in the March 1981 Garrett IV sale is instructive. The Machin's Mills series, including the Atlee halfpence like this one, was still fairly new in 1981. Robert Vlack's plates and variety descriptions were first published in 1974 and circulated among a small group of specialists. The offering of the Alan Kessler Collection in NASCA's April 1981 Kessler-Spangenberger sale, a landmark early offering, was still in the future when Garrett IV was cataloged and sold. As noted in the introduction to Kessler's collection, the counterfeit halfpence struck by Atlee, Machin, et al were not yet even listed in the <em>Guide Book</em> yet at this point, and they remained a backwater to all but a few diehards like Mr. August. While Dick rarely celebrated the provenance of his coins, the envelope for this coin proudly notes it is "ex Garrett, lot 2244," a victory lap inspired by pulling a finest known Atlee halfpenny out of a lot described as "Group of 12 imitation halfpennies of King George III." It's unknown what else was in the lot (presumably some of the other 11 are still in this collection?), but this piece was clearly the highlight. It had been added to the Garrett Collection sometime between the 1880s and 1920s. One wonders if one of the Garretts ever knew this piece was of American origin. Considering the inclusion of this variety in C. Wyllys Betts' "Counterfeit Halfpence Current in the American Colonies, and Their Issue from the Mints of Connecticut and Vermont" in 1886, it's likely they did.<p>Syd Martin's PCGS EF-40, sold in our March 2023 auction, is the only example graded better than VF in our digital archives. The E Pluribus Unum VF-20 (PCGS) and a F-12 (NGC) coin from our April 2022 sale are the best of rest among our offerings over the last 20 years. Heritage sold VF-30 (PCGS) example in August 2023 that surpassed Partrick's NGC VF-30 and Newman's nice NGC F-15 . But none of these surpass the Dick August coin. Howes, Rosen, and Trudgen list a Condition Census of "VF-25 to EF-45," and we suspect neither they or anyone else has ever seen a better one than this one.