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1739-A [Paris Mint] Billon Half Sous Marques. Vlack 294. Rarity-4.

Currency:CAD Category:Coins & Paper Money Start Price:225.00 CAD Estimated At:450.00 - 500.00 CAD
1739-A [Paris Mint] Billon Half Sous Marques.  Vlack 294.  Rarity-4.
SOLD
225.00CAD+ (45.00) buyer's premium + applicable fees & taxes.
This item SOLD at 2019 May 02 @ 20:30UTC-4 : AST/EDT

Buyer’s Premiums will be added on all items as per the Terms & Conditions of the sale. Invoices will be emailed out after The Toronto Coin Expo.

1739-A [Paris Mint] Billon Half Sous Marques. Vlack 294. Rarity-4, second semester as are all reported. Choice About Uncirculated, a lovely example of this tiny coin, certainly the smallest piece that would have been in circulation in the French Colonies. Well struck overall, the T of BENEDICT slightly weaker on the obverse, but readable and the T of ET on the reverse weaker still, but it too can be made out. The remainder of the legends are bold on either side, as are the date and mintmark. The Half Sous denomination shortened BENEDICTUM to BENEDICT. for most issues, the smaller size not allowing for the full word to be squeezed in, though the reverse legend and designs are the same as the larger Sous Marques. Mostly full original silvering, toned down to a light gray and attractive gold color, the surfaces clean and pleasing. The Half Sous, as a denomination, are many times rarer than the Sous Marques, and they are usually found in lower grades as well. Both Vlack and Ford had the variety, each called VF in the sales of their collections, though both were likely full EF grade. The present example was purchased with the note that it was a possible 1739/8 overdate, and there is certainly something around the lower right part of the 9 which could be interpreted as the curve of an underlying 8 – other overdates in the series are even less visible than this! But, of course, it could also be a die break in that area and just looks like something under the 9 – we invite specialists to view the coin and make up their own mind, and though we are offering it as the regular version of the date, it could be something far more special indeed. There was at least a die trial of a 1738-dated obverse made (it is illustrated in the Vlack book), and an example of that date is reported but has never been traced, and is not in any of the museum collections one would expect something like that to have resided in. If several dies were made, it wouldn’t be unusual for the Paris Mint to recycle them when full coinage was started the following year. Only a few mints struck the Half Sous in 1739; Paris was the only one to strike them in 1746 and 1748 as well.