Diversity in Numismatics
Cayman Islands


Obverse
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Reverse
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Coin Details

  

Set Details
Coin Description:
Grade: NGC MS 61 BN
Owner: RAM-VT
 
Set Category: Other (Diverse collecting in the style of Garrett while on a very limited budget)
Set Name: Diversity in Numismatics
Slot Name: Cayman Islands
Research: See NGC's Census Report for this Coin

Owner's Description

Colonial Coinage 1723 Hibernia 1/2P - Two Stops after Date MS-61 Brown Census - 176 NGC graded coins - 6 with this grade - 34 graded higher. This data does not however apply to this particular coin. This specimen is an R-5 and for all I know the only “Double Stop” specimen certified by NGC or it maybe the only double stop UNC. What ever the case maybe I believe the NGC does a great disservice to its submitters when they lump an R-5 into the data for common verities while they treat the common 1723/2 separately. See Below. Numerous coins and/or tokens produced in England ended up in the American Colonies and were used as colonial coinage. My understanding from an early age (based on the “Red Book”) was that this issue of Hibernian coinage was meant for Ireland but was rejected by Ireland (as unwanted) and thus sent to the Americans Colonies. Let’s say that is a sanitized version of what happened. True both houses of the parliament rejected this coinage produced in England under a patent obtained by William Wood. There were two reasons this coinage was rejected but only one reason is typically given. That is that Irish Parliament felt that the King should have consulted them before authorizing the coinage thus taking this unilateral action by the king as an insult. The other reason had to do with the king’s mistress. The details here are somewhat bawdy and don’t belong here. Never the less the attack on this coinage related to this related issue included the likes of no less than Jonathan Swift. Soon after the coins were withdrawn from circulation and bought for what we would call “melt” and shipped to the colonies in “Casks of Hard Ware”. I may have lucked out here. This coin very clearly has two stops after the date (please enlarge the photo to see the two stops). This is #160 in Walter Breen's complete Encyclopedia of U.S. and Colonial Coins, which is a Hibernia 1723 1/2P with two stops after the date. He states this variety is rare. If anyone else can provide me more info on this variety I will gladly accept it. I have corresponded with NGC regarding this coin and my first 1723 specimen a VF-35 1723/2 1/2P. In Breen’s work “Complete Encyclopedia of U.S. and Colonial Coins” Breen points out that 1723/2 1/2P coin has two varieties and neither variety warrants even an uncommon rarity rating. That is the 1723/2 Hibernia 1/2P is simply a common variety yet in VF it catalogues for more than twice the 1723 Hibernia 1/2P which is also a common variety. Breen uses the Sheldon rarity scale: R-1 = Common R-2 = Uncommon R-3 = Scarce R-4 = Very Scarce R-5 = Rare R-6 = Very Rare R-7 = Extremely Rare R-8 = Nearly Unique (i.e., 1-3 known) This 1723 1/2P with two stops after the date is rated R-5 (Rare) NGC does not recognize this variety because it is not in the Red Book but you can clearly see the two stops in the enlarged photo of the reverse side. I really don’t understand ignoring references like the “Complete Encyclopedia of U.S. and Colonial Coins” when its goal is to enlighten and broaden the knowledge available to collectors and specifically to make collectors aware of additional varieties of the coins they collect. This is not the so much the goal of the Red Book. My cost for this coin was $383.

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