Owner Comments:
The Connecticut copper pictured above is a 1787 Horned Bust variety (Miller 4-L) example graded AU 58 by NGC. It was once part of the prestigious collection of Donald G. Partrick who, over time, managed to acquire five different specimens in various die states. A Heritage auction catalogue described this coin as follows: "This is the latest die state we have observed, with the horn-shaped die break now massive and solidly joined to the bust." (It has been estimated that about 10% of the known examples display a late die state full horn.)
The "Horned Bust" variety was given its nickname by Sylvester S. Crosby in his 1875 classical work on American colonial coins. This relatively common, and perennially popular, light weight contemporary counterfeit originated at a mint run by Walter Mould in Morristown, New Jersey.
The originally struck coppers of this variety were completely unblemished. However, eventually a small die chip developed in the left obverse field under the chin of the mailed bust. Over time, the size of this "floating" die crack progressively expanded until the crescent shaped anomaly resembled a horn, and became firmly affixed to the mailed bust. Other distinguishing characteristics of the Horned Bust Miller 4-L include: large widely spaced legend lettering on both the obverse and reverse; the reverse is the only 1787 variety featuring stops after every word, but none before them; and the obverse contains a small die break behind the head, often seen as a dot.
Horned busts are often found in higher grades, but mint state examples are extremely rare. Some specialists seek to acquire an example of each die state progression.
Walter Mould, mentioned above, produced legally authorized New Jersey coppers at his mint located in Morristown, New Jersey. Noting the popularity of the Connecticut coppers, he could not resist the temptation of producing contemporary counterfeits of them for profit. Among the illegal Connecticuts traced to his operation are: the Mailed Bust Right Miller 1.3-L; the Horned Bust 4-L; and the two Laughing Head varieties 6.1M and 6.2M. The attribution to Mould is confirmed by the punches he employed, and his use in all four of a six pointed star embedded in the front center of the mailed armor, which served as his distinguishing mintmark. However, this star is frequently missing from the Horned Bust emissions. The reason for this: The Horned Bust dies were originally fabricated to be struck on the unusually large-sized New Jersey planchets, which measured from 29-31 mm. Eventually however, most were struck on smaller Connecticut sized planchets. In order to accommodate the full legends fitting on the smaller planchets, the bottom of the bust, including the star, were sacrificed at the time of striking.