Lusterrules So-Called Dollars

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In 1681, King Charles II of England granted a large tract of land to 37-year-old William Penn as repayment for a loan that he owed to Penn’s late father. Penn immediately left England to set up a colony of mostly Quakers in his new land which he originally wanted to call Sylvania (Latin for woods), but King Charles II changed the name to Pennsylvania in honor of Penn’s late father. Penn sailed up the Delaware River and on September 1, 1682, landed in an area that today is New Castle, Delaware. Eventually, Penn sailed further up the Delaware and founded the city of Philadelphia. This medal was struck to commemorate the 200th anniversary of the founding of Pennsylvania. It is made of white metal and features a high relief bust of William Penn on the obverse and an ornately designed reverse depicting a winged woman and Penn’s house on one side and City Hall on the other. It is pedigreed to the Virgil Brand collection and of the 34 examples of HK-140 that NGC has graded to date, this piece at MS-65 deep proof like is the finest known. The overall rarity is R5 (76-200 known).