'1771' 1/2P Machin's, Vlack 3-71B, BN MS(PCGS#826939)

Spring 2026 Showcase Auction U.S. Coins

Auktionator

Stack's Bowers

Losnummer

1410

Erhaltungsgrad

AU55BN

Preis

15.600

Losbeschreibung

121.8 grains. An exceptional specimen of this variety, the plate coin in both editions of <em>The History and Coinage of Machin's Mills </em>and the single finest 1771 halfpenny in the Machin's series seen by PCGS. Both sides show choice light brown surfaces, smooth and glossy, without pit or problem. The centering is ideal, with a profound and complete frame of denticles around the reverse. The strike is ideally bold, with even the face of Britannia fully detailed. The usual vertical depression is seen at the central obverse, following the contours of the reverse's highest relief, but it's far less evident on this one than most. Some very minor marks across Britannia's shoulder and bosom are mentioned for accuracy, but any collector who finds anything about this coin objectionable was not meant to collect James Atlee's counterfeit halfpence or any in the broader Machin's Mills series. Said simply, coins like this are incredible outliers, and few Vlack varieties are known to have even a single survivor of this quality. This example shows curved but essentially horizontal and "parallel" die cracks under the bust, as typical, but no rim cud in the northwest quadrant of the reverse, making it an early to mid die state.<p>The best example we've previously sold from these dies was the E Pluribus Unum coin, a PCGS AU-53 sold in our November 2020 sale for $6,000. The two EF-40 (PCGS coins), handful of VFs, and scattering of lower graded coins that follow in our digital archives are dominated by coins with major problems and poor surface quality. The best of those is undoubtedly the Roper coin, an EF-40 (PCGS) specimen that last sold in our November 2020 sale, though not a part of the E Pluribus Unum offering. We find no auction appearances of any specimens this fine or finer.