Help identifying old copper

1digger · Feb 24, 2014

I found this old copper at a site that used to be a lumber mill here in PA -the oldest map I could find shows a house here in 1864. Not sure how it got so damaged, and just pieces of detail here and there. The ruler is in cm, and a penny for comparison. The strange thing is the size -larger than a half penny, smaller than a large cent, and I can tell it is copper from some color coming through. Any ideas?

filmiracle · Feb 24, 2014

From what I see in the photo, it's a farthing (smaller than a half penny) of some kind from the 1700s... most likely King George II, but that's a guess because it doesn't look like King George I farthing alignment. You can see Britannia's arm on the reverse.

doninbrewster · Feb 25, 2014

Interesting piece. First off, large cents came in different diameters. The draped bust pieces have a larger diameter than the later issues. From the detail on the reverse it could be a British halfpence, a Machins Mills, Connecticut or Vermont piece. Just an FYI, picture 4 is upside down. Coins are struck in an up and down die orientation so you flip is over straight up for correct orientation. Medals are struck in a left to right flip orientation. This may help when trying to find something on the coin. Can you make out any lettering or any part of the date? CT's were made 1785-1788, VT bust styles were struck 1786-1788. Machins Mills pieces were mostly made in the late 1780's, but struck with dies that had various dates through the 1770's as well as 1787, 1788 and 1747. If you can provide more info perhaps I can help. BTW, the Machins pieces were struck just north of Newburgh, NY, only 30 miles or so from PA and could certainly have circulated there.