Owner Comments:
This is a coin I never really expected to own simply because they do not come up to auction very auction. I was only able to locate three auction results for this piece and two of which are for the coin in this collection. It seems as though interest in the very early pattern pieces under the reign of William, and Mary only attracts a few buyers. Although this would generally be an ideal situation, it appears these select few have a much larger budget than I do. On any note, I was able to pick this example up for an extremely reasonable price, and I am proud to have it in my collection. Peck lists this coin as
extremely rare.
Obverse: As one may be able to guess from the assigned grade, this coin is very worn, which makes it very difficult to distinguish any fine details. The basic design is the conjoined bust of William and Mary, with William in the foreground and Mary in the background. A wreath adorns William's head, but only the top two leaves are visible. The wreath is tied behind the neck by a riband, but I am unsure if there is a loop. The two loose ends protrude out to the rim with the upper loose end pointing slightly up. Peck notes that the bust of William III has long hair and that he is cuirassed, but Mary is draped. Only part of the legend is visible but reads “GVLIELMVS”. Some trace of the remaining legend can be seen but should have read “ET MARIA”. The border is noticeably toothed.
Reverse: The reverse of this example is even more worn than the obverse and is rotated about 45 degrees clockwise. Only a faint trace of the outer lines of the shield is visible. Peck describes the shield as large and bearing the combined crosses of St. George and St. Andrew. He also notes that a shell occurs above. The reverse should read “ENGLISH COPPER” but this example is worn to the point that only “COPPER” is visible. Like the obverse, the reverse border is noticeably toothed.
Edge: Plain
Notes: This is a very worn example of an extremely rare coin that was, without doubt, a magnificent coin when first struck. The plate image in the back of Peck is fantastic. I believe this coin was weakly struck on the right side (when observing the obverse). The details are nonexistent, and no trace of them ever existing is present, and this holds for the corresponding area on the reverse; however, the left side of the obverse is noticeably better struck with a very strong legend on both corresponding sides. This currently is the only graded example at PCGS, and there is only one graded MS-65 BN at NGC.