1787 NJ 1/2P Pattern Shield, BN (Regular Strike)

P. Scott Rubin: The 1787 Pattern Shield New Jersey Copper is one of the most interesting issues of collectable New Jersey Coppers. Edward Maris in this 1881 book of New Jersey Copper coinage gave this variety a designation of M 6-C. This rare coin is estimated to have less then seventy five survivors.

The reason this is called the Pattern Shield variety is because the Maris C reverse was used with six other obverse dies, three of which do not seem to belong in the New Jersey series at all, even though Maris gave them numbers in his New Jersey Coppers book. Today’s numismatists believe these issues belong in the Red Book classification of “Confederatio and Other Speculative Patterns.” These issues are thought to have been designs offered for anticipated Continental or Early United States coinage.

These three issues are known as M 3-C, M 4-C and M 5-C. The M 3-C has an Immunis Colombia image and the date 1786 on the obverse, currently there are sixteen specimens known. The M 4-C has the image of George Washington and the words “Gen. Washington.” on the obverse, of which only three examples are known. The M 5-C has an eagle with E. Pluribus Unum and dated 1786 on the Obverse; only two specimens are reported known.

Three other coppers known using the Maris C reverse were all unknown to Maris, using obverses of New Jersey Coppers dated 1786. One is the a unique example using Maris obverse die 7, the 1786 Date under the Plow Beam variety mated with the Pattern Shield reverse Maris die C. This example was discovered in the late 1950’s by well-known dealer Lester Merkin. The second specimen is a No Coulter variety 1786 New Jersey Copper obverse first discovered in the Garrett Collection in Johns Hopkins University in the 1950’s, the discovery coin had already been given the designation of Maris 8½, however the source of the designation is not known. Currently three specimens are known of the M 8½-C and all three are believed to be in the collection of noted New Jersey Copper Collector William Anton, Jr. The last of the New Jersey Copper Obverse dies used with the Pattern Shield, like the last one mentioned, is a new variety of the 1786 No Coulter Obverse discovered in 1992 by an unnamed New Jersey dealer who sold the coin thru Stack’s in their January 13-14, 1993 auction as lot 990 where cataloguer Michael Hodder designated the newly discovered obverse Maris 10½. This currently unique M 10½-C New Jersey Copper was graded Fine at the time.

It appears that the Pattern Shield Reverse New Jersey die was first used with other pattern dies not intended for New Jersey Coppers, followed by some experiments in 1786 with New Jersey Copper obverses, leading to the rare but collectable 1787 Pattern Shield reverse Maris 6-C.