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1748-A [Paris Mint] Billon Half Sous Marques. Vlack 297. Rarity-6?

Currency:CAD Category:Coins & Paper Money Start Price:100.00 CAD Estimated At:250.00 - 300.00 CAD
1748-A [Paris Mint] Billon Half Sous Marques.  Vlack 297.  Rarity-6?

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.

1748-A [Paris Mint] Billon Half Sous Marques. Vlack 297. Rarity-6? Very Fine, nicely struck with the obverse legend bold, the reverse one full but just a bit weaker at the top; the date is sharp, the mintmark weaker but visible, the design details strong. Light brown, looking for all the world like a copper planchet, with just a faint trace of original silvering visible in the obverse design, quite unusual as most examples are well-silvered (such as the Vlack coin), and we don’t recall seeing one with this much of a copper look. The planchet has a small pre-strike flaw to the left of the crown on the obverse, and a few smaller striae, but the surfaces are surprisingly hard and the overall effect is quite pleasing. Vlack calls this issue a Rarity-2 in his book, which is surely a typographical error! This late date – the last year Paris mint coined the series, a good half decade past any other mint – shows up only infrequently, and just a fraction of the time one sees the common 1740-dated Half Sous, which Vlack called Rarity-3. It is likely that this was a typo and R-7 was intended, though we suspect that today the variety would be considered a full R-6. None in the Ford collection in any grade.