1790 Standish Barry Threepence. W-8510. Rarity-6-. EF Details--Holed (NGC).

Historic 1790 Standish Barry Threepence 1790 Standish Barry Threepence. W-8510. Rarity-6-. EF Details--Holed (NGC). Medallic alignment. A respectable and eminently collectible example of this rare and significant early Federal era silver issue. Both sides retain plenty of bold definition, as the EF Details grade from NGC suggests. All design elements on the obverse are clear apart from the back of the figure's head, which is flat and devoid of hair definition, and the letter M in BALTIMORE, half of which has been obliterated by the plug (or more accurately, the hole that preceded it). The reverse is similar with bold detail to most motifs, although the letter H in THREE is opposite the figure's head and therefore likewise indistinct, and the plug largely obscures the first letter S in STANDISH. There is a touch of glossiness to the texture from a long-ago cleaning, but the surfaces have retoned naturally and attractively to sport olive-gray patina that is a bit bolder on the reverse. A short cut at and behind the figure's nose and a couple of tiny scrapes around the letters TH in THREE on the reverse are noted, but the plug is really the only blemish that assails the unaided eye. There is a lot of "coin" here relative to the assigned grade, and many colonial and early American type collectors would be honored to feature this piece as their Standish Barry threepence. In their recent (2025) article "Standish Barry and His Baltimore Town Threepence" published in JEAN 8:2, John L. Howes and Roger S. Siboni provide a census of 28 distinct and confirmed examples of Standish Barry's threepence. Several of these are impounded, including the ANS specimen and the National Numismatic Collection coin at the Smithsonian Institution. The authors report only six Mint State examples, including the Siboni, Archangel, William Anton, Jackman, and Brand-Ford coins. The sixth was stolen from the Massachusetts Historical Society sometime before 1974 and has not been numismatically confirmed since. Our most recent offering was for one of the nice coins in the EF-AU range, a PCGS AU-50 that realized $33,600 as lot 4397 in our November 2025 Showcase Auction. That coin is included in the Howes-Siboni census, although its provenance prior to our offering is unknown. The present example, however, is not included in the Howes-Siboni census and brings the total of confirmed Standish Barry threepence to 29. This silver token threepence is an anomaly in the early American coin series. It's struck in silver, which makes it an oddity after the 17th century. It bears the most precise date in the entire American series (July 4, 1790), and perhaps most important, was struck after the U.S. Constitution gave exclusive rights to coinage to the Federal government. In his groundbreaking March 2010 article in The Colonial Newsletter, Max Spiegel posited that the July 4, 1790 date was intended to align with Thomas Jefferson's "Plan for Establishing Uniformity in the Coinage, Weights, and Measures of the United States," which shared that exact same printed publication date. Spiegel also concludes that the portrait on the Standish Barry threepence is that of James Calhoun, the first major of the city of Baltimore, which assessment is based on an 1843 news item in the Baltimore Sun. Howes and Siboni challenge this theory, noting among other things that Calhoun did not become mayor of Baltimore until 1797. Instead, they conclude that the portrait is that of none other than George Washington, who stopped in Baltimore for two days beginning September 8, 1790, while travelling from Philadelphia to his home at Mount Vernon. The president was accompanied by his wife, Martha, and their entourage. Several contemporary portraits of Washington referenced by Howes and Siboni provide further evidence for the authors' theory that it is the president's likeness on Standish Barry's threepence. Much remains unresolved here, however, including the use of the July 4 date which, if actually the date of striking for some or all of the tokens, preceded Washington's visit by two months. Perhaps the significance of the date July 4 was enough for Barry to place it on his tokens alongside Washington's portrait even through they were struck after the president's visit. Whether or not they also commemorate Washington's visit, Barry's token threepence certainly served two purposes: as "...a community service to standardize irregular and confusing Spanish cut coinage similar to what John Chalmers did in early Annapolis seven years earlier" (as related by Howes and Siboni), and to advertise Barry's silversmith business. Survivors from an estimated mintage of 1,000 pieces for the Standish Barry threepence remain rare and rarely encountered today. Many are damaged, most are worn, and the vast majority are incompletely struck - all of which characteristics can be applied to the present example to a greater or lesser extent. Yet even so, the rarity of this type and the additional challenges that it poses for collectors mean that any Standish Barry threepence offered through auction that retains enough definition to support an EF Details grade is worthy of serious bidder consideration. PCGS# 609. NGC ID: 2B5N. Click here for certification details from NGC.

Estimación:€0.89

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