Undated (1737) Higley Copper. Freidus 3.2-C, W-8260. Rarity-7-. VALUE

Rare (1737) Broad Axe Higley Copper Ex Richard Picker Undated (1737) Higley Copper. Freidus 3.2-C, W-8260. Rarity-7-. VALUE ME AS YOU PLEASE / J CUT MY WAY THROUGH, Broad Axe. VG-10 (PCGS). 139.5 grains. Mostly smooth chocolate and steel-brown with excellent eye appeal for a well worn Higley copper. Several dull old nicks are noted above and behind the deer, only minor circulation marks present otherwise. A little patch of pitting is present at the southwest obverse periphery, but this piece is as free of roughness as any Higley of this grade we can recall. The words VALUE ME are mostly present, though the rest of the obverse legend is soft; III is sharp and the deer is well outlined. The reverse legend is complete and the axe is also mostly outlined, but for the developing bulge below the handle that limits details in that area. There are about a dozen examples known of the Freidus 3.2-C die variety which makes this the most common, or better put, the least excruciatingly rare die variety in the series. The (1737) VALUE ME AS YOU PLEASE / J CUT MY WAY THROUGH, Broad Axe type comprises three die varieties and about 20 total specimens making this one of the more available types of Higley coppers and therefore a good candidate for those collectors looking to own a single example of the coinage. Indeed, the ownership of any Higley copper is a point of pride for collectors, and this is a remarkably nice one. Numismatic tradition identifies Dr. Samuel Higley of Granby, Connecticut as the producer of these enigmatic copper tokens. A medical doctor with a degree from Yale College, Higley was also a blacksmith who performed many experiments in metallurgy. In 1728 he acquired some land in Simsbury (later known as Granby), a site known for its copper mines. Higley's mining operation was apparently a successful one, much of the high quality copper extracted being exported to England. Sometime around 1737 Higley is thought to have produced a limited quantity of copper tokens valued at threepence, perhaps using metal from his own mine. The pieces seem to have circulated almost exclusively in and around Granby, although not without resistance on the part of the local inhabitants. Since the tokens were similar in size to the contemporary English halfpence, valuing these pieces at threepence seemed inappropriate. Accordingly, most later issues included the inscription VALUE ME AS YOU PLEASE, although an indication of the threepence denomination was retained in the form of a Roman numeral III on the obverse below the standing deer. Assigning these copper tokens to Dr. Higley has its problems, for he died at sea in May 1737 while en route to England with a shipment of copper from his own mine. Since the date 1737 would not have been used in Connecticut until March 25 of that year (New Year's Day at the time), this left only a narrow window of time for Higley to produce 1737-dated tokens before setting out on what proved to be his final voyage. Then there's the case of the later Higley coppers dated 1739, which were almost certainly not produced by Higley. Once again numismatic tradition weighs in to tell us that Higley's son John continued his mining operations and, presumably, the associated coinage activity. If so, he may have issued the 1739-dated pieces in connection with Rev. Timothy Woodbridge and William Cradock. Provenance: From the Emerald Coast Collection. Earlier from our (Stack's) sale of the Richard Picker Collection, May 1991, lot 92; our (Stack's) Fall 1991 Fixed Price List, lot 14; our (Stack's) sale of the Peter Scherff Collection of Colonial Coins, March 2010 Selections from the Estate of Louis E. Eliasberg, Jr. and the Collection of Chester L. Krause sale, lot 2106. PCGS# 213. NGC ID: AUAX. Click here for certification details from PCGS. Image with the PCGS TrueView logo is obtained from and is subject to a license agreement with Collectors Universe, Inc. and its divisions PCGS and PSA.

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