Owner Comments:
Colonial Coinage
Vermont
1786: RR 7 (Rarity 3)
VF-30 with green CAC
Census (The last time I checked) - 77 NGC graded coins - 32 VF's (VF-30 = ?) - 27 graded higher and 18 graded lower.
On June 15, 1785 the Vermont legislature granted Reuben Harmon, Jr. an exclusive franchise to make copper coins. They were to weigh 160 grs. which exceeded even the Tower Mint standards for halfpence. This weight was reduced to 111grs. in October of that year.
Vermont coinage had two basic designs with several varieties of each and one oddball issue
First design
Obv. – Shows the sun rising over the Green Mountains and a plough in the foreground with the date below. The obverse legend read VERMONT(I)S RESPUBLICA (the Republic of Vermont”). Later VERMONTIS became VERMONTENSIUM (better Latin).
Rev – Shows the All-Seeing Eye in the Blazing Sun within a constellation of 13 stars for the original 13 colonies. The reverse legend read STELLA QUARTA DECIMA or the 14th star referring to local pressure to join the union.
Second design
The mint operator petitioned the legislature to permit a change in design to approximate that similar to most other coppers then current (British halfpence and their local imitations including Connecticut). The Vermont legislature amended the act to specify the following:
Obv. – A head with the motto AUCTORITATE VERMONTENIUS, abridged
Rev. – A women with the letters, INDE: ET LIB: - for Independence and Liberty.
Third Design the “Immune Columbia” issue
Although the third design bears the date 1785, it was probably struck later toward the end of the Vermont-Machin venture. The obverse matches the requirements for the second design but the reverse shows a seated figure of Columbia (a poetical name for America) and the legend IMMUNE COLUMBIA, this reverse was not authorized by the Vermont Legislature.
Vermont coppers were produced from 1785 to 1788