"1700" 1/2P Voce Populi, Blundered Date, BN MS(PCGS#274)

The November 2012 Baltimore Auction

Auctioneer

Stack's Bowers

Lot Number

6224

Grade

VF20BN

Price

529

Lot Description

1760 Hibernia-Voce Populi Halfpenny. Zelinka 5-D, Nelson-6a, W-13940. Rarity-7. "1700." VF-20. 105.0 grains. Black with ruddy undertones, seemingly recolored, over finely granular surfaces. The "true" 1700 variety, called Rarity-7 in Norweb where it was described as "an early die state of [Zelinka] Reverse D. When the die sinker engraved the date on this piece, he inadvertently omitted the upper loop of the 6 in the date, creating a '1700' error date. This variety is quite rare and is infrequently found in auction sales. It was, for instance, missing from our sale of the Frederick B. Taylor Collection, which included Jerry Zelinka's own collection of the Voce Populi coppers." Craige described it as "RRR!" on his envelope. Neither Boyd-Ford nor McGrath owned one. Roper's was not quite as sharp as this one, and it brought $632.50 way back in 1983. A real rarity in the series. PCGS# 274. Provenance: From the Ted L. Craige Collection. Earlier from our (Stack's) sale of January 1969, lot 129. Lot tag included.